Megaman X: The Untold History
by Quint the Historian
Summary: X evaluates his place within the Maverick Hunters. Rated M for mild adult content in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Sitting on the concrete plains located in the valley of a twisted mountain range sat the fabled Maverick Hunter HQ. The nerve center of all Hunter activity, the large military base was home to nearly one hundred thousand enlisted soldiers. While the entire island was home to several dozen buildings and training facilities, the central plains called "The Throne of Justice" was the nexus of Hunter power.

Dwarfing all other buildings was the glistening administrative building called "the Tower." It levels were constructed to reflect the hierarchal system of the Hunters, from the bottom level legions of soldiers to the higher up elite units. At its 30th floor, the highest ranking Maverick Hunter, Commander-in-Chief Signas, sat atop the global information network. Below him, were the offices of the three elite units, the eastern most office, the workplace of the most famous Maverick Hunter that would ever carry the title.

Maverick Hunter X was a legend in his own time. While he had been responsible for the genesis of his entire race, it played little influence in his everyday life. He, however, was famous for being a top-notch Maverick Hunter. After volunteering to aid the Hunters during the first Maverick uprising, X gained the reputation of being the best Hunter in the world. Followed by 15 years of exemplary service, and a dozen victories over the Maverick Leader Sigma, his name came to symbolize the epitome of being a Hunter. X was personally responsible for retiring half-a-million Mavericks, or so the legend goes. In a cruel twist of fate, the father of all reploids was especially adept at killing them, an irony that was not lost on the famous blue reploid.

The sun began to set into the horizon. As the golden coin slid into the ocean, the heavens were painted with the color of fire until the last gleams of twilight faded away. Then the land was bathed in pale moonlight, transforming the Tower into a dark mirror.

Inside the administrative building, X sat before the wall of monitors which hung behind a heavy metal desk; he sat in their glow watching intently, the room tinted with pale light that did not reach the darkest corners of the office. Rocking from side-to-side on his sturdy metal chair, the famous reploid stared impatiently at the center screen, the flashing message, "Transmitting…" his only solace.

When the transmission finally connected, his friend's familiar face smiled back at X. Broadcasting from a turbulent tent at the mouth of the Eurasia desert, the red reploid, Zero, reported what he hoped would be his last long-distance transmission to his hunter comrade.

X smiled, "Good evening," he greeted, well knowing the desert sunset was still hours away.

"Hey," the red reploid answered, nodding his head only slightly.

The green-eyed commander didn't hesitate to ask, "How are my soldiers?"

"Autonomous as ever." Zero punched in several keys, and then inserted his report for transmission, "The Shinobi's pulling out, so Ash will be the one reporting from now on."

The blue reploid twisted his seat around reaching for the grey slate sitting on his desk, orange letters crawled across the black screen of the slate which was Zero's report. "Excellent."

His red companion averted his eyes for a second, as if a stray thought had crossed his mind. "Hey," he suddenly asked, "what's up? You ready to leave?"

The perceptive maverick hunter was referring to the up-coming Off-Duty weeks in line for X. The two months vacation was required of every hunter, because statistics showed that periods of rest helped reduce soldier malfunctions. The 17th Unit was incredibly self-sufficient, and so for the last eleven months, X had done not much more than evaluate reports by his autonomous soldiers. Yet, even after the events of the Lightning War which made him reenter the organization, he favored to keep away from the battlefields.

For Maverick Hunter X, his contribution to the reploid nation was the destruction of the Alpha Maverick Sigma. Three years since the maverick leader was last seen, the landscape of battle was shifting from strong individuals to massive military might.

X glanced vacantly onto the glowing slate in his hand, and gave an unenthusiastic, "Yep."

"Hang in there, and I'll see ya around when I get back." Zero tried to sound optimistic, an unusual change of roles for them.

The tired reploid stifled a yawn and replied, "I'll keep myself busy."

The red reploid smiled and nodded, "Later."

"Goodnight." X said, and the transmission ended. He shut his eyes for just a moment in the dark room lit only slightly by the glow of a dark screen. After a few seconds, the office lights came on, illuminating the entire room. The sleepy reploid shook off his tired feeling, knowing there was one last thing for him to do.

How he longed to go digging again. Archeology, Anthropology, Paleo-Anthropology, Paleo-Botany, it was all so illuminating. He even missed the dirt between his nails. In two long weeks, X could finally reunite with Dr. Cain and enjoy his favorite hobby.

The blue reploid fell from his dream and back to reality. There was one last objective in his agenda which he had put off all day. The subject was uncomfortable, and he had hoped he'd find the strength to do it during the day, but somehow he could not change the fact of the matter. As he waited for his final appointment to arrive, he instinctively rehearsed in his mind what to say, because it was a matter that required a delicate touch.

The metal door slid open, and a young reploid waltzed in. The red haired reploid lifted his arm and greeted, "Evening, X. What'cha want?"

"Axl, sit down," he started, getting up himself to walk around his polished metal desk.

The red haired reploid fell into his seat, dropped his head back and continued to talk, "I was waiting all day. Wazzup?"

"There's no easy way to say this, Axl, so I'll be blunt. You're being removed from the Seventeenth."

Predictably, the brash young reploid expressed his disdain for the news. "X, what the hell?!" he shouted, jumping from his seat and getting uncomfortably close to his former commanding officer.

X remained collected, inching away from the red-haired soldier, "Some of the others have been talking about you…"

"Which ones?! I'll kick their ass!" Instantaneously, Axl called his twin pistols into his hands, behaving much like X had envisioned.

"They're accusing me" he started, emphasizing his statement to discourage interruptions, "of playing favorites. I can't stand for those types of criticisms."

The young reploid dropped his arms to his side, a signal to X that his anger was subsiding, "This is bullcrap." He muttered.

"Some of my men turned down their own units to serve in the Seventeenth." X added, finishing up his speech.

Axl's weapons vanished into thin air, then with the serious expression that X had come to expect, he asked the inevitable question, "Where am I now?" A strange tinge of lament underlined his inquiry.

The blue reploid produced a large, sealed envelope from the drawers of his desk and handed it to his comrade. "The First."

"You haven't seen the last of me. I'll be back on the Seventeenth in two months." Axl's cockiness shone through his last statement.

"More like five," confirming the last actions on Axl's file, the blue reploid handed the soldier a small slate, "You're off-duty, effective immediately." The red-haired reploid stared at his own file astonished, he would not admit to himself that X's final orders had genuinely caught him off-balance. He staggered back, slightly stupefied, until X's last words jolted him back to reality, "You're dismissed, Axl."

The easternmost armrest of the Throne of Justice was an area sometimes referred to as "the Hive." Not half the size of the Tower, the Hive's central building was a great structure nearly ten stories tall and half a mile wide. Inside were 50,000 cocoon-like recuperation pods, the beds of the soldiers of the Legions: the First, Third, Sixth and Seventh units.

A second building, half the size of the central Hive, was the home to the 20,000 other soldiers in the other 14 other units. A reploid living in the Hive's second building, could have a space to call his, a room with walls, a bed and whatever things he could fit into his room, a welcomed change from the fortress of the Legions, where they had only their pod and a footlocker.

The commander's quarters, located in the shadows of the two other buildings, above a sheer cliff overlooking the expansive ocean was the pinnacle of commodity on the Hunter base. Two rooms for every unit's commander, a large waiting room, an ample bedroom, and a personal shower and dresser, because an officer should never be seen without his armor.

The famous reploid entered his quarters, and veered towards his bedroom. The delicate white curtains fluttered as the wind poured in from an open window where moonlight also penetrated. From the threshold, he spotted the figure of a woman resting in his bed.

She turned and looked at him with her dazzling blue-eyes, still covered by the thin white sheet. "Megaman X, I presume." Her voice was serious, but seductive none the less, and crossed her legs in an inviting sort of manner.

"You'd be right," X admitted, venturing closer to the mysterious woman, preparing to solve his small dilemma. She was the most alluring soldier to ever hide within his quarters, he could confess, but the base had rules about soldier's relations. It was not uncommon, for an illustrious Hunter like himself to have a faction of admirers.

She arose then, slipping out from the covers, standing nearly nude in the moonlight, locking eyes with the green-eyed reploid. The moonlight made her eyes appear like deep pools, deep as the ocean away in the horizon. She stood only in her black, formfitting underwear, which matched her short raven-colored hair, letting the famous X learn the curves of her sexy body.

He stepped closer to her, pushing aside the emotions provoked by her charms. Keeping his eyes locked on to hers, the blue reploid paid no attention to the woman's hands. She raised her arms, taking hold of a black bracelet dangling flimsily from her wrist, squeezing it tight. A tight fitting black armor beamed in around her, ending her private show, and surprising the blue reploid, who usually had to ask his visitors to put their clothes back on.

"You're not a normal soldier, are you?" asked the blue reploid.

The woman stepped towards the open window. With one of her sleek legs already outside, she gave her message to the perplexed reploid, "Tomorrow. _The Golden Torch._ At twenty-one-hundred. Tell no one." Then, without even a blink, she vanished into nothing, like a fleeting memory.

The year is 21XX, the tides of power are changing, like the ocean in constant ebb and flow. But, in the shadows, there are things that you don't see, entire wars that rage in secret and epic battles of a single bullet. Vendettas that are told in whispers. The world of light tells nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

In the 22nd century, the Earth is populated by two intelligent life-forms: an indigenous race of "humans," who lay claim to the planet for several million years, and an infant race of human-replicas, indistinguishable by the naked eye, equal-but-separate from its sister species. Despite the growing gaps between the two races, a growing number of organics and artificials believe that a harmony can be achieved.

The next day, X tried to go about his business as if nothing were on his mind. Despite his efforts, the blue hero could not shake the strange sensation clinging to his arms, wondering if it were anxiety or fear over what could transpire overnight in his impending evening encounter. Like clockwork, he performed his usual routine, getting up in the morning, getting dressed, and making his usual rounds in the third sector of the Throne of Justice.

Sitting across from the Hive was a checkerboard of blue and green buildings, interconnected by a series of climate-controlled tubes that served as hallways. Dubbed "City Hall", or simply "The City," the maze consisted of classrooms, mission-rooms, archives, a mess-hall, and other miscellaneous, but vital, base facilities. The City was usually the complex most soldiers thought of when they thought of the Hunter HQ.

The blue hunter walked along the hallways just outside the medical labs, the familiar faces of the lab-assistants smiling happily from behind the large, open windows as they spotted him strolling by on his regular route, just like he always did. X smiled and waved back to the women, who sank enamored into their chairs and back to work.

Things were going smoothly, until he heard his friend's familiar voice echoing in the distance, with a touch of annoyance underlining his normally relaxed voice. He hurried down the wide, polished corridor, then turned to find Zero battling nonchalantly with a simple, grey-colored, messenger-loid. A large, imposing, white crate rested in the passageway, blocking the traffic, and the messenger was adamant that it was the red-reploid's responsibility. X interrupted them, before the bickering could start. "Zero, you're back."

Zero turned away from the grey messenger, giving the misfortunate tin-can a chance to scuttle away. The long-haired soldier was pleased to see his friend, "Yeah, I beamed in this morning when this came." He pressed his palm against the large crate of felx-o-plasitc, which seemed not much larger than a regeneration pod.

"What's all this?" the blue reploid asked.

The golden-haired warrior sighed, "I didn't wanna tell ya, but I lost another soldier in the desert."

Despite popular human belief, losing soldiers in a reploid war was a serious affair, not to be written off like a dog that's run away. Zero had mourned his comrade in the desert, and submitted his name for the memorial. His remaining blue companion gave his condolences, "That's too bad."

"I know," Zero nodded and then looked back at the white crate, "but they gave me the money to commission this new reploid. A Grade-A, Hunter-Class, Hybrid-Reploid from The Pit in Dredds."

Reploids who were specifically created to be Maverick Hunters were called Hunter-Class Reploids, and are built in three grades: the standard Grade-C, which made up 75 of the reploids in the Hunters. Grade-B Hunters that made up more than 24 of the remaining soldiers, and Grade-A Hunters, who made up less than 1.

"Dredds?" the blue reploid remarked with surprise, "Your new Shinobi's an Animloid?"

"Nah, it's a new hybrid, a rep that can morph into an Animaloid," excitement rang in Zero's voice as he described his latest warrior.

"A transformer, huh?" said X, the long-haired reploid nodded in agreement, smiling with enthusiasm over what his new Grade-A shinobi could do. "What happened to the last one?" X inquired.

"Head crushed, like the others, undoubtedly Maverick," anger started to seep into the red reploid's words, "Damning evidence that the Deliberation Army is squatting in the desert."

Nine months after the twelfth defeat of Sigma, eight factions of Mavericks simultaneously arose all over the world calling themselves, "The Deliberation Army." Soon after they revealed themselves, their numbers exploded into hundreds-of-thousands, threatening to quickly overwhelm the Maverick Hunters, who were still in bad shape on the count of the recent Sigma attacks. While at first the so-called army was nothing more than a loosely connected band of Maverick tribes, a new power appeared that finally collected them into a single banner.

The self-entitled 'General' Cutlass Cricket, a villain so infamous for his mercilessness and cruelty on the battlefield that he'd earn the handle 'Cutthroat' Cricket, was reputed a military genius who commanded the Deliberation Army in tactical guerilla strikes against Hunters. The new Maverick leader remained at large for close to two years, cheating death numerous times, and relentlessly attacking both human and reploid institutions alike.

That was until a coalition between the Hunters and Repliforce finally cornered and captured the notorious insect. The Maverick general's sentencing was typical of any iconic, terrorist, revolutionary: deactivation and eternity inside the secluded, maximum-security, Isolation Facility. Since then, the last remnants of the Deliberation Army have been hiding all over the world.

"It's only a matter of time until we flush them out," said X.

"Yeah," the red reploid muttered, then turned to his friend, "Hey, listen, I'm gonna be busy all day with this," he patted the large, white crate, "so, I guess we'll talk tomorrow, okay?"

"Yes, I've…" X hesitated, "got my day planned. I'll see you tomorrow." The famous reploid departed, walking briskly to his workstation, while his companion pushed forward to the monument of registration bureaucracy awaited his conformations.

- - - - - - - -

_The Golden Torch_ is an upscale restaurant in the classy part of Megalopolis, the world's first megacity. Despite being the birth place of the Robotic Era, the megacity's denizens have a subconscious fear of technology after the numerous robot rebellions from the previous century, followed by the troubling past decade. And, while they continue to be one of the leading centers of technology, their approach to the issue of Reploids is incredibly backwards.

Located on the southeast end of Megalopolis, are the overcrowded Reploid Residential Districts, millions of cubicles stacked side-by-side and on top of one another. Besides being separate from the rest of the city, reploids have to stuffer through many tedious safety protocols including curfews and Registration Cards. Being a Maverick Hunter, the blue hero requisitioned a one night pass to Megalopolis, before heading to the Golden Torch, dressed in the only formal suit he owned.

After arriving, the host gave X the usual treatment, pushing him away because of the restaurant's policy of not allowing Reploids without a human companion. The black-haired reploid detoured towards the bar, waiting for a sign of why he was even called for a meeting in the city. To his surprise, he found his friend's familiar face, looking like he was in the same situation as him, waiting on the opposite side of the bar with a drink in his hand.

X approached his blonde-haired companion, who upon seeing him asked the question, "What're you doing here?" and X replied the same.

The golden-haired warrior, Zero, glanced attentively at his comrade before carefully revealing the truth, leaning in close to the green-eyed hunter "There was an invisible man in my tent," he whispered.

"There was a naked woman in my bed," X replied, and the other hunter turned away, slightly, to mutter "you win." The duo exchanged stories, concluding they had both been contacted by the same person, or rather the same group of people. Not completely trusting the mysterious strangers, each Hunter had come prepared with a weapon hidden inside their jackets. Shortly after, the Host approached them once more, informing them that their reservation had arrived.

He lead them to private room, in one of the corners of the restaurant, where X's suspicion instantaneously vanish, when behind the door stood the old man whom he most admired, Dr. Cain. Despite being close to eighty years old, the old doctor was still in relatively good health that he didn't expect to die a natural death for another decade.

"Dr. Cain, I'm so glad to see you," X exclaimed, enthusiastically shaking the old man's hand.

"It's good to see you, too," replied Dr. Cain, his voice still had the gruff quality that X remembered from so many years ago, but the good doctor's grip was significantly weaker.

In the meantime, the other Hunter instinctively scanned the old man to verify his identity, "That's Dr. Cain, alright."

The doctor greeted the second young reploid the same, "Zero, I'm happy you came."

"Dr. Cain," X asked, "was it you that brought us here?"

The old doctor turned and started limping towards the table, "Indeed, I was, and I'm afraid we have pressing matters to attend to." Dr. Cain seated himself, while the two reploids sat across from him, on the table covered with a white cloth. Shortly after, the room's door slid open, and the mysterious woman who had contacted X then entered the room, dressed in a revealing red dress, taking her place beside Dr. Cain, and crossing their arms. "I believe you've already met my associate, Captain Rosa."

The young woman nodded, the two reploids responded likewise, and Dr. Cain continued his speech, "Captain Rosa is the head my unofficial 19th Unit, specializing in Intelligence and Investigations."

"We hunt for Mavericks within the Organization." she coldly added, "We are Maverick Hunters in the truest of sense."

Disregarding the captain's statement, the blonde reploid continued to address the doctor, "What seems to be the problem now?"

"The Captain can explain better." The old man answered.

With one small gesture, the female reploid started her presentation, the lights grew dim and a holographic display appeared suspended over the table. Various numbers appeared in front of them awaiting explanation.

"For the past two years, weapon caches have been disappearing from warehouses in Hunter bases all over the world without a trace." The numbers listed represented the amount and types of weapons that were lost, estimating around nearly half-a-million missing through out the world, "No serious investigations were launched in the wake of the Deliberation Army still at large, so it was widely ignored. And, on the surface, to be honest, it did look like an ordinary crime scene. But, when we looked closer, faint 'soul' signatures were present in the crime-scenes."

"So, it was all done by the same guy, that's no surprise," said Zero.

"You're right, and we weren't surprised either, until we discovered the same type of cloaking technology present in seven major crime-scenes. First, Talon, one of the night guards in charge of a warehouse that was hit, who died because of a core explosion." the image of a black stain on a concrete floor was displayed, "Followed by Major Kappa of the 12th Unit, dead in the desert with technorganic poison in his body." his skin had turned white by the time they found him, "The Command Sergeant Major and Colonel of Repliforce, both decapitated. The terrorist bombing of Human Supremacist League. The assassination of Kakeru Ishido, CEO of iGen, and the assassination attempt on Koyama Akio, Vice-chairman of the Cain Foundation.

"But, the assassinations were too perfectly executed to be the work of Mavericks, and in addition, beside the same type of distorting technique, from the results we could read, the person or persons who perpetrated the acts were not under the influence of the Virus."

"Scanners have been wrong before," Zero reminded the Captain.

"But, if you examine the type of weapons that were stolen, they're mainly blaster-riffles and other hand weapons. The Deliberation Army is 70 Animaloid, so it isn't logical to be stealing arms designed for humanoids."

The blonde reploid leaned back in his chair, admitting his defeat.

"We've already investigated the other divisions, and narrowed it down to this one. With the missing weapons and high profile assassinations, we've concluded at a military coup is in the making. Within the next few weeks, the mastermind behind this entire operation will move on the rest of Repliforce, the Cain Foundation, and perhaps the Hunters themselves," the young, Captain Rosa explained.

Her last statement made the green-eyed hero worry and immediately voiced his concern, "But, if that's the case, isn't Dr. Cain in danger, too?!"

"Think noting of me, and only focus at the matter at hand, since this initiative is to prevent whatever plan is emerging," the old doctor was deeply committed to the institution he had established. Silence spread across the table as the three immortal reploids contemplated briefly how the wise elder could set aside the concern for his own life. They said nothing, and the light came on.

The gorgeous captain stared invitingly at Megaman X, letting her lips curl slightly into a smile, and then remembered her work, "We've managed to narrow the suspects to six officers who have the authority and motives to undertake a military coup. They are Signas and his Big Five."

In the 22nd century, the world is still trapped in whirlpool of political intrigue. Dozen of individuals are grasping for power, while a true mastermind wields the threats of fate like the strings of marionette. For Megaman X, as the world seems to grow all around him, a window opens to land he's never seen before, and if he's not careful, there will be no way back.


	3. Chapter 3

The hunter paragon was now faced with the vexing predicament of corruption amongst the highest ranking officers inside the Maverick Hunters. Captain Rosa, of the 19th Intelligence Unit, presented their findings incriminating the leaders of the five largest units of the organization.

At the beginning of the 22nd century, the Maverick Hunters was a relatively small organization of forty thousand reploid soldiers primarily centered in Asia. As the first decade of reploid life marched on, and the increase in maverick activity swept across the world, the Hunter organization ballooned to approximately 5.7 million soldiers around the globe.

While the original structure of dividing its members into small specialized units proved functional when the organization was small, by the end of the decade, it had become more troublesome than helpful. Despite its problems, sweeping reform of the Hunter Units had been delayed due to failure to pass a restructuring bill. As a result, four "Super-Units" emerged containing the least specialized hunters commonly referred to as "the Legions."

These four units contain close to 90 of the Hunter population, and their leaders are the highest ranking officers within the organization. Those four, along with the General of the elite Lightning Unit, meet with the Commander-in-Chief on a daily basis usually by transmission or holograms. But, thanks to special orders by Dr. Cain and the Cain Foundation, all five members of the Big Five will be reporting to Hunter HQ for a rare face-to-face report.

- - - - - - - - -

The day following their meeting with the 19th Unit, the news quickly spread and the City became energized with the impending visit from the five generals. Hunter pride spread zealously across the base as the technicians worked harder, the Legions marched louder, and even the wounded in the infirmary seemed to bleed a little less. In the last days of summer, a cool autumn wind blew across the Throne of Justice.

Maverick Hunter X still wrestled with the feelings of paranoia, envisioning the worst possible outcomes. Secret surveillance of the generals would hopefully eliminate the maverick threat within the organization, but it would undoubtedly shake the foundation of the Hunters. Like in any other time of crisis, the blue reploid sought council with his Shinobi brother.

Making his way past Zero's four attentive secretaries, X found the red reploid punching numbers into a slate while sitting behind his desk. The long-haired reploid seldom visited the Tower, and abhorred the tedious work. The leader of the Shinobi Unit was personally responsible for two thousand Hunters, which inevitably meant he'd have to return to his office for "push-button work." One glance from his companion and Zero tossed aside the grey slate aside with a clatter.

"G'morning," said Zero, standing up to acknowledge his friend, walking around his desk to the front end of his office to better converse with him, "You here to check up on me?"

X had not considered what the red hunter might be doing about their new mission, but he did raise an interesting point, "Why aren't you…"

"I've got the rookie on it," Zero admitted with a smile. Crossing his arms, he replied with a secretive tone, "But, if I'd have to bet, I think Atom," General Atom of the 1st Unit, "is innocent. I've known him for years, and handpicked him myself. He's another straight-arrow, like you."

"Gee, thanks." Said X, and his companion glanced at him awaiting an answer. The famous hunter had also considered which general was the guilty party, "I don't think General Mach Hawk would be involved in a military coup. He's a Grade-A Hunter, so he wouldn't try to break the chain of command, it's not his nature. And yet," the blue reploid changed to a more serious tone, "I'd never be happier to be proven wrong. If we are both correct, then it is more likely that it's Signas himself."

"That's worst-case-senario."

The red reploid would have continued, if they had not been interrupted by a sudden loud beep from X's helmet. Instinctively, but serving no actual purpose, the leader of the 17th Unit looked up and answered, "Go ahead, Pallete."

"Colonel," the female reploid's voice rang clear, "Signas' twenty-first secretary is here waiting for you."

"Twenty-first?" the green-eyed reploid mouthed to his companion. "I'm on my way," X responded, then gave one last glance towards the red reploid who simply nodded.

- - - - - - - -

He had not set two feet inside the 29th floor of the Tower before Pallet was attentively at his side. The young reploid chirped all sorts of frustrated banter while clutching a slate to her chest, her regular soup of timid babbling and complacent information. The blue reploid listen carefully, shifting through the nervous ramble of the young blonde and responding with affirmative noises, "Uh-huh… Yes… Okay… Uh-huh…"

Pallet had once been a member of the 18th Unit working at Hunter HQ as a Navigator with the purpose of analyzing an enemy's weak point. Being a Navigator put the would-be secretary in very little danger, but also provided no real advancement in her military career. The young blonde was a relatively unimpressive navigator, but still managed to get the work done.

This was true until the three weeks before the end of the Lightning War, when a freak occurrence destroyed the small reputation she had managed to build. During a routine network transmission, one of the keys in her keyboard decided quit suddenly and without warning. As a result, the information the unfortunate Navigator unknowingly transmitted was incorrect by a single digit. The effects of her small mistake were tragic, resulting in the death of one hunter and six others wounded.

It didn't take long to find the 'incompetent Navigator' responsible. Dishonorable discharge from the Hunters was discussed, but retirement was optioned as well. Kindhearted X, who never really knew the Navigator well, used his considerable pull to spare Pallet, convincing Signas to move her from the City to the Tower. To spend the rest of her days moving slates up and down the administration building, receiving messages, and never to touch anything remotely important.

To X's surprise, waiting for him inside was Captain Rosa disguising herself as the Commander-in-Chief's new twenty-first secretary. Her looks had drastically changed, dressed more conservatively in the uniform of Signas' secretaries, a white, concealing, long-sleeve women's suit, with a conservative skirt, leaving much to the imagination. Her hair had also changed; it was longer and colored brown, with a few hairs out of place draped in front of her face, making her look overworked. She looked up at X.

The famous hunter nodded back at her, "So, you're Signas' new secretary?" he asked knowingly.

"I'm investigating the Hunter Saint myself," the Four Hunter Saints was the unofficial titles of the heads of the 4 Hunter divisions, "your target's ETA is in 20 minutes."

"I'll watch him closely," said X.

"Don't be a hero," Rosa remarked, "Keep the General busy, while the 19th does the investigation." X agreed, and the undercover agent walked away.

The blue reploid chatted Pallet, killing time until his target arrived. Just as Rosa had estimated, seconds away from the twenty minute mark, the five female reploids marched down the halls of the 29th floor attentively, clad in suits of alternating black and white. The five reploids aligned themselves against the wall, waiting intently for the elevator doors to open, while Megaman X trailed close behind.

The doors opened and a broad-shouldered reploid stepped out. The General was of an average height, clad in glistening granite-colored armor with a strong protruding crease down the middle of his chest, which was his trademark. His synthetic skin was slightly pale, and had a handsome face with brilliant blue eyes, and short, dark grey hair. Lastly, he was dressed in a long, black coat, styled after Signas' armor, which was how the other Generals were clothed.

The reploid dressed in grey was none other than General Go of the elite Lightning Unit, an army of brilliant war planners and tacticians who played an integral part in the Lightning War. General Go had orchestrated the final strike against the Deliberation Army, personally apprehending the Alpha Maverick with his own private squadron. The resulting flood of fame, along with his long untarnished record, rocketed the General to be next in line as head of the Maverick Hunters.

X raised his right arm and saluted the superior officer, "Greetings, General!" he said courteously. 

The General saluted back, while his secretaries presented him with slates filled with information. "Colonel X, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I just wish to congratulate you on yet another victory," said X. General Go had just returned from a world wide Hunter competition, pitting the teams from the Lightning Units of each Division, to determine the overall rank of each sector. The blue reploid did not push far from his mind the imminent test of the 17th Unit less than six months away.

Go smirked, serious as he was, he liked his ego stroked, "It'll be a long time before the other sectors claw us down from number one." He added. "If you'll excuse me," he side stepped the blue reploid in his path, "I have many things left to do." The grey reploid turned and made his way to his unit's headquarters.

X looked on as the General walked away, puzzled that one of their own most trusted could be a maverick. "History is written by the victor," Dr. Cain once said to him, but who will pen this chapter?


	4. Chapter 4

The door to Zero's room slid open, Maverick Hunter X had finally arrived. The red reploid was reclining on his black couch. The beautiful Captan Rosa stood by dictating new reports, still dressed in her white secretary's uniform while the brown haired wig was tossed aside on Zero's coffee table.

"You're late," said Zero.

"I can't just rush here, it might raise suspicions," X explained. The blue reploid sat across from Zero on a matching black sofa, and Rosa stood between them to their side. All of the officer's rooms were decorated the same way, yet they had chosen Zero's quarters since it wasn't strange that he'd have visitors. Above them, circular-shaped florescent bulbs lit the room, combined with the white interior, gave the room a pale blue glow like simulated moonlight.

The captain of the Intelligence Unit greeted the legendary reploid with a solemn nod, then continued her briefing, "To sum up," the captain had already been talking for nearly an hour when she was interrupted, "after our first break in the investigation, we can remove General Atom from the suspect list."

Zero's lip curled into a smile, then winked playfully at his old friend across the table, before interrupting Rosa once again, "Now that we're getting somewhere," the captain glared at the shinobi, "you can tell us why you've got us involved, but don't want us investigating the Big Five ourselves."

Captain Rosa crossed her arms with frustration; the red reploid clearly didn't trust her. "If we should fail," she explained, "the Hunters will likely be split in two, the last thing we need are either of you on the wrong side of the argument.

"Which leads me to my next point," the female reploid handed glowing slate to both Hunters, displaying the same information she had revealed at their first meeting, three nights ago. "Two dead Repliforce officers, the bomb at the Supremacist League, one dead CEO, and the attempt on the Vice-chairman of the Cain Foundation; whoever is siphoning those weapons shows a strong anti-human agenda.

"Failure can set back Reploid-Human relations fifty years."

_How is that of any consequence_? X thought.

"So, who's the most likely suspect left?" Zero finally asked.

Captain Rosa breathed in a quick gasp and regained her normal serenity, "We will be moving the focus of the investigation to the next most senior officers, General Yamato and General Mach Hawk."

"How could Mach Hawk be a suspect?" asked the legendary hunter.

Normally, each of X's companions would not agree on anything, but at that time, each was thinking the same thing, "Well, he is a…"

'Animaloid,' 'Bioroid,' 'Muto Reploid,' labels referring to reploids whose exteriors are modeled after the subjects of the animal or plant kingdom. In most cases, an animaloid is innately superior to normal human-shaped reploid, often times their bodies are better adapted to special situations. However, these special adaptations also make them inheritably more destructive, if or when the subject goes Maverick. Consequently, their reputation of causing more destruction than humanoid reploids lead to the misconception that Animaloids are more likely to be, if not naturally, Maverick.

Their implications infuriated the blue reploid, "Don't give me any of that racist crap!" Intolerance is ugly, even in robots.

Zero backed away a bit, then continued calmly, but respectfully, "Look, PC stuff aside, Mach Hawk's an animaloid and you know the DA likes to stick with their own kind."

"Not only that, but if their true objective is to cease control of Repliforce, the RepliAirForce is more than three times the size of the Air Cavalry. Mach Hawk could be acting on jealousy, seeing that the Air Cavalry is the smallest unit of the Legions." Rosa added.

Dryly, the famous reploid added, "I still doubt General Mach Hawk is responsible for all of this."

"On the contrary, the third unit is the largest of all, which means General Yamato's influence has seeped into every aspect of the Hunters. With that kind of sway over the soldier in every unit, he could topple Signas with little resistance."

Her comment made X uneasy. Others sometimes had doubted the famous reploid for being an idealist in a world where the lines between right and wrong blurred together all too often, but he hadn't served a decade with the Hunters in blissful ignorance. He knew what could happen next. Yamato would have Signas silently assassinated, like the officers of Repliforce. It didn't matter if General Go was next in line, Yamato would be swept into office by the roar of his supporters. Then, Signas' death would be pinned on the Deliberation Army. No one outside this room would suspect at thing.

"Yamato is leaving HQ tonight," the red reploid reported, "and I intend to follow him."

--- --- ---

Neo-Metropolis, the City of Tomorrow, the largest megacity of the western world, was quickly becoming a model for the ethical treatment of reploids. A few years prior, activist groups, backed by the growing power of reploid capitalists, won over better wages, working conditions, and living conditions for reploids, and as a result, revolutionary leaders arose vowing to push the reploid agenda to the ultimate level. Not content stop at the national level, the Reploid Equality party declared Neo-Metroplolis a stepping stone before taking the issue of reploid rights globally.

Their early victories cemented the power of reploid capitalists which allowed them to pressure the state into making more concessions. Soon enough, the state would no longer be able to ignore the reploids pounding on the doors of Congress. Political life in the City of Tomorrow became a popular topic the world over, gaining opponents and sympathizers from all walks of life.

The leader of the third unit was one sympathizer. Dulled and pathetic over the never ending battle of Hunters versus Mavericks, it seemed Yamato's only joy came following the Politics of Tomorrow, and playing the game whenever he got the chance.

Zero had followed the General to the megacity despite Captain Rosa's protests. She had insisted that information gathering was her team's department, but the red reploid was convinced stalking his target was a job for the Shinobi, and so the leader of the 19th Unit could only help and comply. She assisted the famous hunter by preparing his disguise. Zero was reputed to be the most beautiful of all the Hunters; it was scarce to go anywhere without being recognized for his stunning good-looks. For a reploid, changing bodies is as simple as a simultaneous heart and brain transplant for a human, which is to say, that it's impossible. Reploids cannot change bodies; however cosmetic surgery was a simple as routine check up.

Gone were his long, flowing locks of shimmering golden-colored hair, instead his head was now capped with short, dark-red hair, gleaming with the grease which slicked it back, save for two long bangs which served to frame his face. Zero's famous face had taken a diamond-shaped appearance after having his cheek-bones heightened and his chin redefined. The vibrant blue in his eyes was replaced by a dull steel gray. He was dressed in a fine dark-blue suit and white shirt, the petals of a fake rose tattoo peeked out from underneath the unbuttoned collar. There are more aspects to being a shinobi than beam-shurikens and crawling around ventilation shafts, being able to hide in plain sight was the mark of a master, a skill the leader of the 0 Unit was more than familiar with.

A wave of cheering reploids filled the convention center; the disguised shinobi was merely a drop amongst a sea of supporters, while his target was among the honored guests seated up on stage. Binoculars in hand, Zero kept his eyes on the general. There was nothing to gain from reading his lips, the general seemed to carry on about nothing at all, while at center stage, a powerful speaker brought her audience to a frenzied high.

The vigilant shinobi continued to watch his target, still uneventful, until someone called the general's attention. A strong, lumbering Animaloid, in the form of a buck, approached Yamato, and leaned in close to whisper in his ear. Zero stared through his binoculars, trying to decode what they were saying, but it was impossible to read the lips of an Animaloid. But, that action alone was incriminating enough for the leader of the 0 Unit. Because, despite not following the politics of tomorrow, Zero knew the dirty little secret no speaker of the party liked to address: that the Deliberation Army also preached for reploid equality at any cost.

When the convention ended, there was little time to waste. The most powerful players in the game would continue their ritual in the lobby of a nearby hotel; hastily the disguised red shadow hung himself on the arm of an unattached young woman. Like any female reploid, she was easy on the eyes and slender, her body was trapped between girl and woman. _Adopted daughter of one of the power brokers_, Zero assumed. _She's young and none too bright, like I like them._

The upper crust of reploid society had all followed suit, and the next moment he knew, the disguised reploid was hobnobbing with the cultural elite. Zero wandered away from his breezy brained, arm candy and did his best to disappear amongst the splintered groups of socialites. He seemed to glide from clique to clique, waltzing his way closer to the general, who continued to graze next to the large stag Animaloid.

General Yamato stood with his back facing the wall, and the large Animaloid between him and the door. The leader of the third unit, was a seasoned soldier with six years of service, which was an amazing feat considering the short lifespan of the average Maverick Hunter. His hair, synthetic hair, keep in mind, was a dark black which shone blue. His eyes were a lifeless brown on his tired face not unlike a statue's. He came dressed in his blue armor, wearing the long coat of a general over it.

The hulking buck, acting like a bodyguard, was a second Maverick Hunter, Zero finally realized. The Explosive Reindeer, an energy filled reploid tank that had transferred into the Zero's sector earlier in the year. They had never met face to face, but there were stories about the commander of the Polar Region Unit. The colonel was a passionate supporter of Reploid's Rights, that he attended the convention as though it was his most important mission. Dressed more formally than his companion, Explosive Reindeer had managed to squeeze himself into a black tux, looking like it could rip apart at any moment.

Zero shifted slightly, tilting his left ear in the direction of the general, trying his hardest to concentrate and extract the voice of his target from among the rabble of the other guess, while appearing to admire a glass sculpture.

"Without a leader, the campaign is doomed to fail, no matter the speaker's enthusiasm," the animaloid blurted out, not even trying to be discreet. "It's up to the Maverick Hunters to once again lead by example, General."

"Watch what you say, Ronald, we're not at war with the humans," Yamato replied, he cold not shake the dull tone in his voice, "Indeed, we need a single candidate, but nothing will top the chair from getting her way."

Forgetting himself for a moment, the disguised reploid gave a quick turn in their direction, and unintentionally met eyes with the general. His large animaloid companion noticed the general's expression, and quickly spun around. He march towards the uninvited guest of their conversation, his heavy footfalls shook the nearby tables as he walked.

"It's rude to eavesdrop, _sir!_" he said, poking the reploid in the fine, blue suit.

Zero met his eyes, and begged his pardon, "Excuse me, Mr. Ronald."

A glance into the shinobi's dreary gray eyes gave the predicted impression, "Who are you, _orna-man_, to address me in such a familiar manner?"

Ornamental Mechaloids, the latest trend for the super-rich. Human-shaped Mechaloids have long been used as models for human and reploid fashion. Recently, a revolutionary new artist turned the art world on its ear and presented his master piece, an entire room, a frozen scene, populated by Human-shaped Mechaloids which he called, "Living Statues." The craze of Living Statues spread, and soon every mansion was equipped with an appliance whose only work was to stand and look pretty.

It became a game to dress and style an Ornamental Mechaloid to blend in with society. The machine's simple brain could be augmented and customized to give the orna-man some semblance of a personality without it being a sentient being. The average reploid dislikes Orna-mans, but the wealthy Reploids of Neo-Metropolis, trying their best to assimilate into human culture, adopted the strange hobby.

"Ronald, calm yourself," General Yamato came up behind him, "You'll only ruin your reputation. Pay the boy no attention, and let him wander off to which ever master owns him."

_That was close_, Zero was relieved, _my whole investigation almost ruined by a glance._ He would have shuffled off, back into the islands of reploids, if not for another roadblock glaring in his way.

When Zero turned he found a woman straight ahead, the speaker for the party, and the organizer of the event. Her hair was black, shimmering like silk, hanging just above her shoulders. She had a strong, but feminine face, with emerald green eyes. Another orna-man, you'd think, if you only saw her face, but no practitioner of the hobby would ever hide a woman's body under her concealing, black, power suit.

"Who's this?" she asked the Animaloid.

"It's an orna-man, who lost his way, Madam Speaker," Explosive Reindeer answered.

Madam Speaker grew annoyed and sentenced Zero quickly, "I said, 'no orna-mans' in my party. Ronald, show him to the door."

The Maverick Hunter complied, he gave the orna-man a push forward, and followed the disguised reploid to make sure he saw the door.

Standing on the steps outside the lavish hotel on a starless night, the animaloid glanced down at the living statue that had not broken its deadpan gaze. "Wait here for your owner, orna-man." He said, before closing the door in its face.

"Damn," Zero muttered, and let out a frustrated sigh. _Ruined by a glance. _The shinobi turned and walked away into the megacity, the night was not half-over. The year is 21XX, there are things moving into place, for a great upheaval that only its true controller understands. The famous reploid, Zero, had served the Maverick Hunters for more than a decade, but there were still some things he could not comprehend.

Author's Note: No more updates until I get 3 reviews.


	5. Chapter 5

In the 22nd century, armies of Reploids are locked in a seemingly never ending battle of anarchy versus order. The disheartening cycle of violence and tragedy claws at the fiber even the strongest Hunters, so much so that apathy was becoming rampant concern within the ranks. Despite the blackest nights the reploid race had weathered, however, glimmers of hope lingered throughout the night from the light of the Throne of Justice.

The Tower was the immovable object, a mighty chrome-encrusted titan holding the heavens above from collapsing on the fledgling, fragile world that Reploids knew. Where the reach of the Hunter power nexus was weakest, the badlands, desperate locals called it "The Hall of Kings," and told tales about the pantheon of legends dwelling at its summit. Specifically: three supermen with the power to save their world.

A cold front had blown in, blanketing the Throne of Justice in a sheet of gray clouds. The land was bleached in a dull, lifeless monotone in the wake of the untimely cold snap, and the wind chill seemed to cut at the faces of the soldiers with every breeze.

Mid morning, X, the leader of the 17th Unit, scheduled a meeting between the three elite units in the designated conference room within the jumbled confines of the City. The black and white clad general sat impatiently rapping his fingers on the surface of the heavy, round table while X winced despairingly for their final member to arrive.

The room door opened to announce the appearance of the last of the supermen. Colonel Sakura, the hardhearted head of the 9th Special Forces Unit. A green-eyed Cain Class enlistee, the future leader of the second largest Slasher Unit struggled early in her military career with the fierce competition from rival Hunter Class reploids. Despite other reploid's natural advantages in the battlefield, young Colonel Sakura honed her skills relentlessly, pushing the limits of what was thought a civilian reploid could do. Her impressive skill and rise to power earned her the moniker, "Miracle."

"What was so damned important?!" she exclaimed as she marched into the room. The colonel cut a path directly to her seat, and quickly sat down where her colleagues were assembled. Colonel Sakura came still dressed in the uniform of the 9th Unit, a light black and gray armor, formed around her lean, muscular body, with only enough curves to discern she was a woman.

X couldn't withhold smiling.

"Yes, colonel," the general glanced at X and inquired, "Why did you see fit to involve me?" General Go did his best not to sound commanding. The general would never stand for insubordination from any officer, with only special exception for X and Zero. He recognized the importance of both Hunters, who each once lead the entire organization, and willingly stepped down. However he would still not stand for disrespect.

"We couldn't exclude you from a Slasher meeting, sir, or the soldiers would begin to talk." X explained. If he had, the general would have simply ordered himself in.

Within the Marvick Hunter organization there are only three elite units, the so-called Slasher Units, whose offices are located on the 29th Floor of the Tower, below the chambers of the Hunter Saint. The three units are the established best, the goal of thousands of rookie Hunters, and the folk heroes of millions of Reploids the world over. They are the 5th Lightning Unit, a legion of master war tacticians; the 9th Special Forces Unit, teams of S-Rank Hunters fighting rogue bands of Mavericks; and the 17th Elite Unit, masters of one-on-one combat. The three supermen assembled in that small chamber lead the finest soldiers in the greatest army on Earth.

X glanced at his companions silently before continuing. The general was still waiting intently, while Colonel Sakura remained indifferent, her hard sight fixated on the blue reploid, the leader of the 9th Unit was reputed to have a gaze that could wilt a flower. "I called this meeting to asses our chances of victory in the last two inter-sector competitions."

"Whatta waste a time…" Sakura muttered.

"Indeed, colonel, the competition is nothing we should concern ourselves with," said Go confidently.

The blue reploid sighed, "My concern is about soldier moral. We are the highest ranked sector based on our victories in the competition. You don't have to be a master war planner to see the other sectors closing the gap. We managed to edge out a victory last time, but the trials this year will be different, since I have decided to pass on the competition this year."

"Why?" Colonel Sakura responded with hint of disbelief in her voice.

"The 17th doesn't need me anymore," X lamented, "Each of them are highly skilled soldiers that I know for sure. But, my participation is based on tradition, not necessity." This was no ploy. Megaman X partially retired after the fall of Sigma. With the resurgence of war, in the wake of the Deliberation Army, the blue reploid returned to action, and was renamed head of the 17th Unit pushing another officer from command. A decision Signas, the Hunter Saint, based on tradition. "The remaining factor is our competition," the blue reploid turned towards the general, "That is where you come in, Sir. The Lightning Unit already succeeded in their trials, you've seen the other sectors in person. How do you asses the competition?"

General Go paused to scratch his chin, taking a moment to cycle the empirical data he collected from his travels through his highly analytical brain. "The Hearts Division is still the chief competition," he began, "but I predict in the next 3 years, the Clubs will become a factor. I've met with the new Commander-in-Chief and he has plans for a massive restructuring of the entire sector. He'll be bringing in new officers from around the world, and if he manages to draft the proper Hunters, he could shuffle the entire order of the four divisions."

The general of the Lightning Unit continued his evaluation, listing the roster of countless Hunters he deduced were candidates for the draft, and explaining the impact of the possible trades. The expert tactician analyzed the competition for the next three years, before jumping ahead to explain his vision of the next ten years. The famous hunter and his colleague persisted to comprehend the general's calculative knowledge of long term tactics.

- - - - - - - -

The trio of investigators had once again assembled in the red reploid's quarters. Captain Rosa briefed the two Hunters on the news findings of the 19th Unit. X listened intently, while the second Hunter, back in his familiar guise, feigned interests, reiterating their situation wouldn't bring to light new facts.

"Our investigation into the motives of General Yamato have proved inconclusive, however, with the new evidence recently brought to light, we can remove General Mach Hawk from the suspect list."

X would have smiled, if not for Zero's disturbing thought, "That drops the list down to Go, Yamato, Hex, and Signas."

"Admiral Hex," of the 6th Sea Force Unit, "is a very unlikely perpetrator. The coup d'état takes a strong base of supporters, which the new admiral of the Hunter Sea Force lacks," Captain Rosa admitted.

"Which pushes the 'Worst-Case-Scenario' even closer," added Zero.

The blue reploid remained silent as the captain of the 19th Unit continued.

"Meanwhile, there's new activity where the mysterious 'Maverick Ghost' appeared," the female reploid handed each Hunter a new slate of information, "The attack on the Cain Foundation has managed to scare Vice-chair, Koyama Akio, into early retirement. His replacement is the new representative from Neo-Metropolis, the move shifts the balance of power from conservatives to liberals within the council."

"An anti-human agenda," X remembered.

"That's right," the captain continued, "Over at iGen, the Board of Directors named the head scientist acting CEO."

"What the hell is 'iGen'?" Zero suddenly asked.

"They make prosthetic limbs for humans."

"Cyborgs," the red hunter whispered hoarsely, "I hate cyborgs."

"Unfortunately, the situation at Repliforce is not as simple. The two vacant spots have every Officer Grade and disserving soldier jumping through hoops and calling in favors to see who gets promoted. And the confusion doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon."

Repliforce, the largest army of reploids on the planet Earth, is primarily composed their own Force-Class Reploids. Force-Class Reploids are then divided into Officer Grades and Non-Officer Grades, who adhere to the unscrupulous law which declares commissions can only be held by Officer Grade Repliforce soldiers. As a result, whenever vacancies arise in the ranks, it creates a vacuum.

"What about the two other murders?" X asked, "The ghost attacked the Cain Foundation, iGen, and Repliforce, then kills two low-level hunters. It doesn't fit the M.O."

"The poor saps saw something," the red reploid answered.

"They saw the ghost, and were killed," added Captain Rosa, "who exactly stole those weapons, isn't nearly as important as what the Deliberation Army will do with them. Once the DA strikes, the real architect will appear, and we'll have a Maverick at the head of a reploid army."

"If the DA attacks the Cain Foundation, Signas power over the Hunters would go unchecked," Zero stated.

"And, at this stage, if the General of Repliforce was assassinated, the Cain Foundation might simply hand the reigns over to Signas to avoid the power vacuum."

"General Go need only kill Signas to be the legitimate leader of the Maverick Hunters," said X.

"Or, Signas could name him head of Repliforce instead," added the red reploid.

"Or," the blue reploid frowned, "General Yamato could overthrow General Go."

The year is 21XX, and the world continues to turn, away from light and into darkness. Twilight passes and night sets in as the trio of Hunters continue to investigate the motives of the invisible hand guiding not just the three of them, but perhaps the entire world, to a new beginning.


	6. Chapter 6

The year is 21XX, the Throne of Justice rested against a darkened sky in the early morning. A rolling mist covered the floor of the base. Deathly silence rang through out, it was as though nothing existed beyond the mist, and the island of Hunter was sequestered from the rest of the world.

The leader of the 19th Unit sprinted from X's chambers, stumbling to put on her heels, and clutching her brown wig in one hand. "Last night," she paused, "was a mistake."

Reploid romance novelists would like you to believe because reploids are not influenced by the biological need to reproduce, the love between two reploids in the truest love of all. On the contrary, because reploids lack the urge of companionship, the act of physical lovemaking is nothing more than an item on a list on how humanoid reploids are supposed to act.

The famous hunter slowly pulled on a white shirt and shorts, nonchalantly walked towards his food replicater. "Stay," he announced while ordering the computer to synthesize his morning coffee, "the sun is not out yet."

Megaman X was no stranger to women. There were always admirers eager to lay with the famous hunter. She was like all of them; she was in love with the legend.

The female reploid finished zipping up her dress, "I don't know what came over me last night, I'm…"

"Stop apologizing already," X handed her a white ceramic mug; the smell of steaming coffee filled the air. The famous hunter sat down on his black, leather couch, which creaked as he settled in. The leader of the 19th Unit guardedly did the same, and squeezed a vial of sweetener into her drink.

A moment passed before the maverick hunter broke the thundering silence, "So, how long have you known Dr. Cain?"

Captain Rosa blew on her coffee, "For a few years now."

"Have you always been a Maverick Hunter?"

"No," the raven-haired reploid admitted, "I was a born a civilian."

The famous hunter drew a long sip from his beverage, then exhaled a puff of hot breath, "So, I guess 'Rosa' is not your real name."

His questions were becoming more invasive and his guess grew defensive, "'Rosa's not my label."

Her short sentences spoke volumes. The 17th Elite Unit is a band of self-sufficient Hunter soldiers, who responded to an officer for tradition's sake. The self-governing unit allowed Megaman X time for the leisurely pursuit of many pastimes including politics. The famous hunter was a follower of the Politics of Tomorrow, and her words were clues. "You're part of the Reploid Equality Party," he wagered.

The captain remained silent, and then smiled at the hunter's keen awareness. "Yes," she admitted. There came a second pause as each drew in another taste from their cups. As they drew in the hot coffee, the room seemingly grew colder.

"What about you?" Captain Rosa began, "Don't think we're not watching you, too. We've seen what you're like, when you think no one is looking."

X hid his surprise behind another sip from his mug, but a real chill shook through his body.

"You can hide it from everyone else, like you have, but you can't escape your restless soul."

"You don't know what I can do," X quickly replied.

"What are you here? Just a drop in the ocean. A cruel, senseless ocean, that'll be roaring long after we're both gone," passion filled her words, "Join us, and put yourself on path for the good of all reploids. Not just some senseless war."

Megaman X remained quiet. He provoked her, and got a response he did not expect. The two reploids finished their brew, and not another word was spoken.

--- --- ---

The morning of a dark day, a blanket of clouds stretched out as far as the eye could see, and the horizon, normally an awe inspiring blue ocean, became a black soup, restless and preparing to bubble over. All was quiet in the Throne of Justice, visitor from the Air Calvary and Sea Force had departed soon after the ill weather had blown in, and the greater part of the Legions had marched to other part of the island. The wind whistled between the buildings of the City.

The blue hero retraced the same steps he had wandered nearly everyday for the past year, his footfalls echoed in the empty hallways of the City. The same girls popped up to watch him stroll by from their desks inside the medic lab, and then sank into their chairs, up and down like parts of a machine. They didn't know him, but they had heard the legend.

As always, he entered the Tower and proceeded to the 29th Floor, where the clicks of fingers tickling the keyboards surrounded him like the gentle sound of falling rain, and quiet murmurs became white noise. X approached his blonde assistant, buried in a stack of slates so early in the morning.

"Uh, good morning, Colonel!" Pallet piped up, immediately turning back to her mound of work.

The famous hunter gazed at the work load his poor secretary suffered. The 17th Unit is the smallest unit in all of the organization, but somehow they managed to generate a bureaucratic trail of a unit three times the size. It seemed as though the same reports showed up in her stacks, filed ten times before they disappeared. It was a thankless, endless job, but it was better than the alternative. It is hard to be an unemployed Reploid, harder still if you have a dishonorable discharge on your record.

"It's just 'X,' Pallet," the blue reploid corrected her.

"Ye-yes, Sir! X, sir!" she timidly babbled, "And, the reports from, uh, Colonel Ash came in. Last night. Colonel Zero left a message, Dr. Cain left a message, and Signas wants to see you. Sir."

"Signas?" he groaned, "you should have said so in the first place."

The blue reploid had turned and walked out before Pallet could string together another chain of unnecessary apologies.

--- --- ---

There are approximately 5.7 million Maverick Hunters in the world. The world is divided into four sectors: The Hearts, The Clubs, The Spades, and The Diamonds, each headed by a Commander-in-Chief, sometimes called the "Hunter Saint." Signas is the Commander-in-Chief of the Diamonds division, the highest ranked sector of the Maverick Hunters due largely to the actions of legendary Maverick Hunter X, and the growing popularity of General Go.

Whenever the Hunter Saint calls you, there should be no hesitance; X knew this as he climbed up to the 30th floor. The Hunter Saint answers only to the Cain Foundation, the global entity which governs all reploids across the world, if he should order someone to the 30th Floor, that soldier should drop what he's doing and report in, no matter who they are, or what they're doing.

The lift opened, on either side of the famous reploid sat nearly a dozen secretaries, uniformly clad in white, quickly typing away with much fervor like heavy rain. The Tower is an enormous information network, the secretaries in the lower levels would funnel information to Signa's assistances on the 30th floor, which would compile the information for the Hunter Saint and present it to him via the 21st secretary.

X walked straight ahead towards the large, white door at the end of the room.

The chamber of the Commander-in-Chief appeared simple, a large white room, with a deep blue carpet. Bookshelves filled with real paper books, a luxury in the predominantly digital age, adorned the left side of the chamber, opposite a large window on the east side, overlooking the Hive and gazing into the dark horizon. At the center were two small dark grey sofas, around a small rectangular table, like any officer's quarters.

On the furthest side of the office sat the Hunter Saint on a big, black leather chair, behind a polished metal desk. Behind him to his right was a dull, blue door leading to the inner chambers, while at his left the brown-haired 21st secretary presented the leader of the Maverick Hunters with the latest reports.

There were no chairs in front of the lead Hunter's desk; his visitors had to stand, unless he invited them to sit down. X stood silently, with his hands behind his back, waiting to be acknowledged. The briefing ended, the disguised spy wandered way, and from the corner of his eye, the blue reploid watched her walk away.

"See something you like, Colonel?" the Hunter Saint noticed.

"My mind must have wandered," said X, slightly embarrassed.

The leader of the Maverick Hunters rose from his chair, then politely asked his guest to take a seat.

"Is this some sort of social call?" the blue reploid asked.

"You should have heard of it by now," the Hunter Saint explained while taking a seat across from his guest, "The old men finally passed a restructuring bill yesterday, and they're looking at me for recommendations."

"For what?"

"For a new Saint."

The blue reploid was taken aback by the Commander-in-Chief's suggestion. At the start of the decade, there was no one else to fill the role. Sigma was defeated, but Mavericks were far from extinct. Zero was dead, and so the remaining Maverick Hunters confided in X to be their leader. The job chose him, he didn't choose it. It isn't an easy job, the fact that Signas successful where several others had failed, only proves how unpredictable the job can be.

"Not just anyone can hold together an entire sector. It has to be someone dedicated, with a reputation that precedes him. I'm offering it to you first."

Asking "why?" would be redundant, Maverick Hunter X was reputed the world over as the single greatest fighter, there was hardly anyone who hadn't heard his name. The blue reploid moved his gaze toward the window, behind the Hunter Saint's head, looking for an answer from the heavens. The sky grew darker, and the clouds wept.

Signas had an inkling of the hunter's answer, "Think about it over the break," he recommended, "the offer will still be on the table when you get back."

The leader of the 17th Unit was dismissed. For the past week, he'd been so involved in the secret investigation, he had forgotten about his upcoming leave. The blue reploid returned to confines of the 29th floor for the rest of the day.

- - - - - - - -

Tears still flowed from the darkened sky that evening. Time continued to move slowly, it felt as though morning had been weeks ago to Megaman X. Gentle rain showered the Throne of Justice, and the pitter-patter of the rain drops washed over the sound of the footsteps of the solitary few walking through the drizzle.

The legendary Maverick Hunter exited the Tower panting heavily with his breath suspended in the air in front of him. His vision darted from left to right, searching for Rosa, who he had been thinking of most of the day. He regretted how he'd treated her that morning, oh-so-long-ago. He didn't use to be that way, so indifferent to others; after a decade locked in the never ending struggle, it had left a bitter taste which he spat like a poison when he wasn't aware.

The blue reploid spotted the brown-haired secretary at the edge of his vision, with a red umbrella in hand she was a brilliant marker in the seemingly endless grey world of the Maverick Hunters.

"Rosa!" he cried as he ran towards her, the spray of the icy rain hit his face. Water was flooding the small path, the heavy footfalls of his armored boots splashed water in all directions as he continued to call out to her.

The gap between them narrowed, when the famous hunter was only a few meters away, she finally forgot her pride and stopped. She looked back at him; his widening eyes would be the last thing she would see.

Behind her, an ominous tube hovered; one end came to life and shone an evil red. With one burst, the bullet darted through the air leaving a vapor trail behind it and drilled through the body of the brown-haired secretary. Her body jerked with the impact as the projectile exited through her lungs, one last breath escaped her body before she fell lifelessly on the watery ground. It was a shocking scene the famous Maverick Hunter would replay in his mind several times over in the hours to come.

The world of 21XX descends into darkness, and the sky, the earth and ocean paint a bleak future. This is not the world of Light. History remembers only what affects the world, but there are personal struggles that remain ineffable.


	7. Chapter 7

This fic is almost at an end. There will be ten or less chapters. Please enjoy this long awaited update.

On a dark day in 21XX the history of X, and all of his fellow reploids, changed with the sound of an assassin's bullet. Despair washed over the blue reploid like so much rain cascading off his armor, and instantaneously transformed into anger as his companion's body splashed onto the cold wet ground.

Clenching his right fist into his famous X-Buster after spotting the specter mounted on the rooftop of a distant building, Maverick Hunter X charged towards the killer, discharging plasma bullets as quickly as he could. The blue reploid did not get far before the spry killer, garbed in lean black armor and a mirrored mask, leapt into the sky and vanished like a ghost into the night.

The killer was too far ahead to give chase; thinking quickly, X turned to his fallen ally, praying for one last hope. He returned to her side, slowly took Rose into his arms and noticed the gleam of the assassin's bullet slicking out of the earth. He scooped up the mysterious weapon, and then with her body in his arms, the legendary hunter raced towards the medical lab.

The average Maverick Hunter has an unbelievably short life span; many don't live beyond the age of three. Worst of all, X had grown to find, few ever left a corpse behind. With her body in his arms, she had a chance some young Hunters never did.

- - - - - - - -

X burst into the medical lab where attentive medical technicians pulled Rosa from his arms. Six reploid nurses and doctors swarmed over Rosa's body, and X stood back speechless. Nearly a minute of frantic testing, a voice rang up, "She's dead."

The remaining nurses tossed up their hands and despairingly moved away from the body. The last reploid standing glanced at the blue reploid coldly, "Why'd you bring a civilian here?" she asked.

When they were young, Alia and X nursed feelings for one-another, until it finally blossomed into love, or what they thought was love. As the never ending battle continued, the flower of their relationship died just as quick as a rose inside a blaze. Zero's death was a bitter pill for X to swallow, it drove a wedge between him and Alia until the famous Hunter decided to leave everything behind.

After Zero returned, so did X; by then Alia was absent from the Navigator's channel. He found her again in the Research Lab as part of the Science Unit, wearing the long white coat of a scientist, over a new dark purple armor. Her hair was short again, shorter than it had been before, curling below her ear, he noticed. They had not spoken much since the Lightning War.

The blue reploid brought up his hand, "this is what killed her."

Alia gasped at the sight of the bullet, and then batted his hand away, "Don't point that at me," she exclaimed.

"What is it?" X gripped the bullet in his fist.

The stranger in the white lab coat before him crossed her arms defensively, "Why should I know?" she answered back.

"LIAR!" a voice suddenly decreed, startling both reploids.

From an empty space behind the blue reploid, the eavesdropper emerged from the walls it seemed. He marched forward, his hand outstretched with his accusing finger pointed squarely at the woman. The stranger, clad in a tight fitting black armor, cornered Alia against the wall of the lab, "You know what this is!" his voice shook from inside his helmet, he quickly turned and snatched the bullet from X's grip.

The famous hunter responded quickly, forming a blaster from his fist, "Get back, whoever you are!" he protested.

The stranger paid him no attention, and continued to press Alia to confess. The woman scientist remained tightlipped, until her assailant resorted to threats, "Tell him, or your secrets will make headlines in less than a minute."

The blonde woman conceded, "Don't do it!"

Maverick Hunter X slowly put down his buster as he came to the realization –_we've seen what you're like, when you think no one is looking_ – Rosa's words echoed in his head.

As Alia walked forward, the stranger gave her a shove, "Don't just tell him, show him," Alia gave the unwelcome guest a hateful glare, "and don't even think of trying anything, I'm in control of your motor functions, you walk because I let you."

The spy was using a controlling technique, the mark of the Hacker Unit, a special skill to gain control over an enemy's body. Unfortunately, the skill could only be used within a short range from the victim, and left the user vulnerable to attacks from other enemies. Most skilled Hunters had already safeguarded against such techniques.

The rest of the lab was empty, X noticed, the spy had made the other residents leave most likely. They entered the empty office of Colonel Magenta, head of the Science Unit. The space was cold, white, and clean; a large, locked storage cabinet towered in the furthest corner of the room.

"Do it!" the helmeted stranger ordered. The female reploid reached slowly into the inside of her lab coat, and produced a white controller. With the push of a button the cabinet vanished, a control panel stood in its place. He shoved Alia towards it, and signaled X to do the same.

The blue reploid did so hesitantly; he did not know what to make of the situation. The helmeted reploid was threatening Alia, on the one hand, but he was also dressed in the same armor Rose had used when they first met, exposing himself only when the leader of the 19th Unit had fallen. X complied, then after another forced action, the floor beneath them began to shake to life.

The platform that they stood on began its slow descent into a darkened tunnel. The slightest moves made the floor beneath them shake, they were moving in an old style elevator, pulled by wires and gears, X deduced. The three of them remained silent during the descent, but the blue reploid could hear Alia's slow deep breaths, her habit for keeping calm.

Nearly a minute passed in the dark until they reached the final basement and a dull red light switched on, exposing a metal door. Their captive signaled them forward, forcing the blonde reploid to undo the lock on the heavy gate made of polished titanium; its only security was an archaic combination lock, devoid of digital technology.

After the final number was aligned, a simple machine slowly pulled away the metal door; bright, white light bathed the three reploids as the entrance grinded open.

His first step told X everything, the ground shook beneath his boot, they were not on solid ground, instead they were walking on a strong metal grating suspended above a laboratory the size of a sports arena. The blue reploid could spot the moving specks, workers along the ground from the gaps of the grating. One glace around the room confirmed they had walked into the control center of whatever the stranger had wanted X to see.

Supercomputers lined the walls of the lab, manned by workers so absorbed by their findings not but one gave them a glance. One worker glowered at the visitors from its station with its pair of glowing red eyes.

Horrified and intrigued by the misshapen thing, the blue reploid inched closer to the worker and studied its almost monstrous form: half-machine from the waist down, it stood bare-chested in the cold, bright lab, its skin was hard and plastic and yellow. Its face endlessly frowned from behind a pair of lips etched into plastic; it had no hair making it look like a walking mannequin. X turned his head away in disgust as he recognized the robot's face, "It looks like Gate."

Alia bit her lip and buried her face in her chest with shame.

Drones, the weapon of the enemy, played an integral part during the Lightning War. Cheaper to make than War Mechaloids, the invention of these living dolls was spearheaded by General Cutthroat Cricket himself. Once mobilized, the endless wave of Drones became the bane of all Hunters, swarming and destroying anything in their path like soulless man-sized soldier ants. Since the fall of the Deliberation Army, the Maverick Hunters have remained vigilant to stamp out any belligerents attempting to create their own Drone army.

"He was your friend, you freak," spat the helmeted stranger.

Indeed, the doll's lifeless, red eyes haunted the blonde scientist from behind their plastic masks. Alia had tried her best to salvage her old colleague, but for all her efforts, it was the best she could do. Not technically dead, Professor Gate lives on as the central control for the Drones. If you could call it living: they march, and work, and march, and work, and march, and work.

The laboratory doors split open and the head scientist walked in flanked by two more Gate Drones. Colonel Magenta of the 10th Science Unit, a tall, bald reploid with amber colored eyes, clad in bright red armor, under the long white coat, marched over to the unauthorized guests. He glared at the blonde woman, "What is the meaning of this?" Magenta spoke in a loud, but clear monotone.

The colonel's presence made her self-aware; she reeled in her emotions and regained her composure, "I had no choice, Colonel, Sir."

Colonel Magenta's lips cracked open slightly, before turning to the black armored stranger among the visitors. "You! I can feel your fingers slithering in my brain, trying to gain control. You're out of luck, my systems are too advanced for your mediocre attempts," the Colonel's name was ironic, there was nothing rosy about his personality, with a quick nod, he signaled Alia.

The female reploid quickly lifted her arm, formed a blaster, then fired. Before the stranger knew what was happening it was too late, Alia's plasma bullet ripped his head from his body, his still standing corpse then disintegrated in a blue flash.

It had happened so fast, the blue reploid had no time to react, by the time he readied his own blaster, the ordeal was over. He was struck with disbelief, "What the HELL is going on?!"

"That's what I'd like to know," Magenta added nonchalantly.

"You just killed a man," the famous hunter retorted. He stared with disbelief at the head of the Science Unit. Colonel Magenta had always been a cold, calculating taskmaster, X knew, but what concerned the blue reploid was what could he be hiding from the rest of the Hunters in this secret laboratory. After all, as far as anyone else knew, the colonel was supposed to be on leave.

Colonel Magenta met eyes with the famous hunter and in his signature tone informed X, "This area is highly classified, Colonel, be content we've been meaning to bring you into the fold," then asked his assistant, "Why was he brought down here?"

There was a moment of hesitation as Alia detracted her blaster, "Colonel X has found a SE-slug, Sir." In her voice, X sensed no remorse, fear, or anger; he gazed into his friend's face and saw nothing.

"If that's what's brought you here, you must want to know what it is." Magenta stationed himself in front of a computer terminal and began to rapidly click away at the keyboard, the famous hunter could not avert his gaze from the black scorch marks on the floor where the black armored stranger once stood, while the Gate Drones continued to pay them no heed.

Colonel Magenta brought up the documents pertaining to the bullet, "The SE-53 – 'Soul Eraser' Bullet. Made of…"

"Did you say, 'Soul Eraser'?"

"Yes," the head scientist continued explaining, "The SE-53 is a special bullet made of raw Force Metal. In its unprocessed form, Force Metal is dangerously radioactive. When the raw Force Metal is in the presence of the Crystal that powers a reploids brain, the radiation causes the crystal to rapidly decay. As the 'heart' dies, it releases a special energy which destroys synaptic data in the reploid's brain. The brain is cleared blank, and the body dies without a 'soul'."

X was shaken with rage. He flexed his buster arm and clenched his fist, his blaster appeared instinctively. It was unbelievable, he told himself, but he had seen it with his own eyes. Such a thing would have never happened ten years ago, or even five years ago. But, once again, this experience highlighted how behind the times the first reploid had become.

He put away his weapon and swallowed his rage; there was little time to act. "How many were made?!"

"Ten-thousand cartridges of thirty-two bullets each," answered the head of the Science Unit.

"And some have been stolen," the blue reploid reminded him.

"Indeed," Colonel Magenta, dug his hands into his coat pockets refusing to lift a finger to help.

"Shouldn't you do something?"

"No," the scientist stared unblinkingly at Colonel X, "The SE-53 doesn't officially exist. We dispatch a team to recapture weapons that don't exist. In fact, Colonel, I'll have to confiscate the slug you found."

There was nothing left for X in that room. Less than an hour ago, he though he understood the institution he helped build, but since he had learned the truth beneath it all, it made him sick. Disheartened, X dropped the bullet in his palm onto the floor, it rattled between the holes of the grates, and turned towards the exit.

"Colonel!" Magenta yelled, "Don't forget. This area is classified. You cannot tell anyone what you've seen down here. And, those are Signas' orders, not mine."

The blue reploid gave a single nod in confirmation, and made his away to the shaky elevator. The lift crawled up towards the surface, the dark surrounded the blue reploid. _There is so little time left, and no one left for help._


	8. Chapter 8

The Throne of Justice is called "the Nexus of Hunter Power" for good reasons. While it was being built, cargo ships and planes suffered numerous Maverick attacks. During its construction, threats were issued at an almost daily basis. It has been laid siege to twice, during the eleventh and twelfth "Rise of Sigma," and stood without power for four days during the Lightning War. It still stands as unspoiled as the day the Maverick Hunters moved in. There must be more that binds it all together, more than roads, concrete, silicone and bolts.

Megaman X resurfaced in Colonel Magenta's empty office and stepped outside to the medical lab alive with people once again. The nurses and technicians went along seemingly unaware of what was happening beneath their feet. The blue reploid wondered how many of them knew, how many of them turned a blind eye to what they saw, or how many of them were watching him waltz out of an empty office.

"Hey!" a voice called to him from one side, the shinobi with golden-hair rushed up to his companion, "I've been callin' ya for, like, twenty minutes. Where were you?"

"I couldn't begin to explain." X muttered while the red reploid lead him to the infirmary section of the lab. They made a sharp turn towards the bed of an injured Hunter. The unfortunate soldier lay in bed, both his arms bandaged tightly from the tips of his fingers to past his elbow, like his face, completely covered, save his red eyes.

"It's been hell," Zero reached for the nearby table, bringing up the head of a monster, "There was a row of whirling-blades on each arm, plus a telescoping-thresher neck – _that one was new_."

X gazed at the maverick's face unfazed; its face was almost human, made of steel with fangs and wild spikes of metal hair, and cold, dead eyes. The spine hung off the head, the blades still intact and whirling ever slightly dripping oil on the floor.

"It tore up his face and arms real good," Zero continued, "but he held the line 'till I got there." He set aside the monster's severed head, "Good work, soldier," he added.

Megaman X pulled his companion to one side, "What do you think?" the blue reploid whispered.

"We jumped 'em outside the Officer's Quarters. I think this was a deliberate attack on you and me. We need to tell Rosa."

"Rosa's dead."

"Dammit!" Zero spat, it didn't take an intelligence branch to figure out, "It's going down."

X agreed, "We need to move, I'll contact Dr. Cain, get the Shinobi to sweep the area."

"Already on it," the red reploid responded already dashing out the building.

Megaman X rushed though the City, speeding hastily passed his normal route. His eyes darted from person to person has he ran past them, quickly assessing if they were a threat or not. He dashed towards the Tower carefully in case of a surprise attack. Once inside, he darted towards the elevator.

Like so many times before Pallet awaited timidly just outside the elevator. Before a single "meep" escaped her lips, the hurried hunter lead her by the arm into his office. "What did I do?!" she blurted as X pointed her to the com station.

"Get me a secure channel to Dr. Cain," the blue reploid ordered, "and do it quickly." There was no time for pleasantries. The fate of the Maverick Hunters, and the world, rested in the next few minutes. X could not waste time being apologetic; he had foolishly spent weeks in that office kowtowing for bureaucracy – doing the work unfit for even his unfortunate secretary. The system had changed, and he, no, they had gotten lazy, and this was the consequence – only minutes to avert a great disaster.

Pallet's delicate fingertips clicked away at the keyboard swiftly and gracefully, working her magic as though she had done it all already. Reploids are like that, they never truly forget. "But, there's already a message from Dr. Cain," she piped up, while executing her command.

He saw it there, the slate tossed on top of his desk. Pallet continued clicking away while Megaman X was mesmerized by the tablet sitting on the table like any ordinary thing. It really could be a message from Dr. Cain, or a mail bomb with a payload big enough to obliterate the Tower and everyone in it. He scanned the devise and his sensors told him it was non-explosive, but that was no guarantee.

The blue reploid pinched the corner of slate and raised it slowly, his brain told him it weighed as much as a normal slate. He stared at its blank screen, it had no odor. Then moved it slightly and heard an abnormal "click."

Fright began to set in. His breathing became shallow and quick, while the pulse of his internal systems increased leading to an increased sense of awareness. _The screen is loose! Something is rattling around inside, _he thought. From the sound, it wasn't much larger than a die.

"What is it?" Pallet turned and asked.

"There's something inside this slate," X answered, "it could be a bomb."

Instinctively, the hacker dove under the desk and pulled the chair in behind her like she had been taught, while X fiddled with the devise sensitively. In reality, there was no way she'd survive the blast if she was that close, but it gave her a glimmer of hope.

With a miniature trowel X kept in his desk, he lifted open the small screen and removed it safely.

"A data cube," he breathed a sigh of relief, while Pallet peaked out from under the table.

"Who sends something like that?" the secretary was puzzled, "Maybe it's a virus."

"If they went through all that trouble of hiding it in a slate, they would have just sent a bomb," X explained handing it off to his companion, "Plug it in."

The hacker reemerged from her hiding place, "We're still waiting on Dr. Cain," Pallet replied and inserted the data cube into the computer.

The cube contained much of the same data he had seen before; it was from the remaining 19th Unit, but it did contain one new piece of information, "There's a bug in the satellite system."

"If there's a bug, why didn't they remove it?" asked Pallet.

"If they did, we wouldn't know if it was ever really there, we have to remove it ourselves," the map of the great desert came up, "There's a web of teleporters hidden under the desert, that's where all the weapons have been disappearing."

"Weapons?"

"But, it's so damn huge, I don't know where to begin."

"That's where the Shinobi died," Pallet suddenly added.

X looked up at the screen, there was a mark where one of the killer's victims was found, "No, that's where another dead hunter was found."

"Zero's squad member died twenty kilometers northeast of there."

The blue reploid had a hunch, "Why wouldn't they have noticed?"

"Well, he only filed the report a few days ago," Pallet informed him, "Plus, he got the cause of death wrong."

"How did he die?"

"He wrote he was killed when the head was crushed, but it was actually cut off with a non-plasma sword." A beam-saber would have burned through the reploid's neck resulting in a clean cut; a regular blade would require a lot of force to tear off the head, leaving behind a severely damaged wound, which would explain the mistake.

"Decapitation fits the M.O." the blue bomber was on to something, "Pallet, highlight the area within a 20 minute radius, on sand-cycle, starting from two murder scenes."

She complied, and the two areas overlapped in an small, eight mile area.

"That's it! That's where they are." X realized.

"Dr. Cain is online," Pallet reported, but the blue reploid was already near the door.

"Tell Dr. Cain that Rose is dead,"

"Who's Rose?" she immediately asked.

"And show him what we've found. He'll explain everything. Then call Zero and go down to the transmission center and get the bug out of our system. I'm going to the desert to flush out those Mavericks before it's too late!"

- - - - - - - - -

In short order, the blue reploid teleported himself to the desert. Twisting Alia's arm, she secured him passage, assuring Megaman X would not be obliterated in the process, his atoms plastered all over the stratosphere.

With the sand-cycle at his side, he raised his binoculars to his eyes and combed the horizon._ Two other Hunters have been killed, as Zero put it, they saw something._ _The first was poisoned, and another was beheaded, matching the mode of operations of the so-called Maverick Ghost. Keeping in mind Rose's own end, if they were all the done in by the same person, the culprit has three known ways of killing, barring explosives, including a dangerous strength reserved for heavy-duty mechaloids, enough to rip through metal bones. _

Despite her death, the 19th Unit continued operated in Rose's absence, compiling their information into the data cube and sending it directly to X. _It's likely the upper agents have been killed, and now the remaining members have defaulted leadership to me._

Maverick Hunter X scanned the desert, the carpet of sand stretched out endlessly as far as his binoculars could see. He mounted his cycle and cut deeper into the territory. More than a mile away from the center, he stopped and looked again, scouting the perimeter that fifth time he spotted it: a steel door on the side of a boulder, among a stack of stones lying inconspicuously on the sand. The entrance would appear and disappear as quickly in a cycle every three or four minutes.

He neared the stones on cycle but continued on foot. Upon closer inspection, the boulders were fake, colored cement-gray, when the naturally occurring geography would be clay-red, Doctor Cain had taught him this. The door reappeared and then vanished as he continued his investigation. Something inside was cloaking the door, his scanners sensed interference coming from the smaller stones, these were dampeners.

Thanks to the bug inside the Hunter's satellite system, no suspicious activities were recorded in the area, and the dampeners would fool short ranged scanners. Looking at the entrance again, as the door phased in for a second, X could conclude security beyond the door was at a minimum, if there was too much, the dampeners would not be able to hide it from passers-by.

His right arm morphed into a weapon, and the Maverick Hunter mentally prepared himself for what to expect. His buster remained calm, he chose not to charge it, a bigger blast left a smaller margin for error. He approached the door, and it opened without a key. A lock would be useless for the door, they could not afford an alarm with the dampeners in place, and the "rock" was constructed as camouflage, a small explosion could have easily ripped the entrance down.

The blue reploid entered the bunker, leading to a darkened narrow stairwell. The door disappeared behind him, and his path was traced with the dimmest lights to see the steps in front of him. It appeared to be an abandoned military bunker, he felt under his boots patches of sand and the faint sounds of animals lingered in his ear. He continued walking. _It could all be a Maverick trick._ The open door begged to be explored; while the descending stairs could fool most into thinking the bunker was abandoned. _Once intruders get further down the path, and away from the dampeners near the door._

A light came on at the end of the tunnel at that moment.

There were three options at that moment for Maverick Hunter X: to move towards whatever had switched on the light; to stand still and let what was down there come up to him; or to run back up the steep stairwell, nearly a hundred steps away from the door. The sand strewn on the fool would only make his escape more difficult. And staying in place meant no mobility inside the narrow passage. If he started firing blindly, there might be a human at the bottom of the steps.

Having come this far, he could not turn back and continued steadily down the stairs.

A shadow crept into the distant speck of light. X knew the dull glint of armor, his first thought was to look before shooting. _It could be a military-cyborg, _he thought. But, when the light caught the face of the figure bellow, it gave off a glare much like a mirror.

Megaman X squeezed four shots from his buster as he climbed down the stairs with haste. This was the moment he'd been waiting for. He had been in this situation dozens of times, one-on-one with his enemy in an empty narrow room. It was what he was famous for, and what made him the leader of the 17th Elite Unit.

He expected the maverick ghost to come up to him, like many of his opponents would do. Generally speaking, the narrow stairwell would put both combatants in a handicap, because it restricts their dodging capability. But, the enemy of the famous Hunter boasted a monstrous strength, making him deadly at close range. The silver-faced Maverick had also killed Rosa with a bullet, so running away was not an option. Besides that, X's objective was to find whatever the ghost was hiding.

However, Silver-face did none of what X was predicting. It seemed to recognize the famous hunter, and rather stand and fight, he ran into the light.

Perplexed, but never before as determined, the blue reploid gave chase, the maverick would lead him to either the weapons or an ambush.

He reached the bottom of the stair and heard Silver-face racing down the lighted pathway, maybe thirty-meters away. The Maverick Hunter continued as fast as his legs could carry him, down the insides of the defunct military bunker, cement walls on all sides of him, while florescent lights illuminated the way. He spotted his target take a sharp turn into another room.

A voice echoed from where Silver-face had disappeared, but the sound of the Hunter's running muffled what was being said.

Dozens of crates were scattered across the room, the uneven piles suggested their contents were being steadily brought in, and then shipped out. X arrived just late enough to witness Silver-face disappear into a teleporter, but did catch the ghost's surprised accomplice.

The traitor didn't move, he simply glanced back at X from over his shoulder. The blue reploid began to charge his blaster, "Care to tell me what you are doing here, General?" he asked, knowingly.

Always prepared, the Commander of the 5th Unit answered nonchalantly, "This is a secret Hunter base, only Signas and I know about it."

"That man's a terrorist. I have proof," the famous Hunter quipped. "Are these the weapons?" he signaled the crates strew around him.

At that moment, the cleaver General made a dash for the teleporter. The blue hunter released his canon, blocking the escaping Maverick's path with a white blast of plasma. While the hunter had focus on cutting short his escape, cleaver Go slipped a communicator from out of the back pocket of his coat and signaled for help. X saw what he was doing too late, and asked redundantly, "What did you do?"

General Go, Maverick and former leader of the Elite Lightning Unit, glared smugly at his opponent. "One on one battles are overrated, Colonel. A soldier should always invest his strength in numbers." Simultaneously, a new squad of foes beamed in on the General's command, "You're familiar with The Nine, Colonel." The Nine, the star pupils of General Go, and master tacticians of the Lightning Unit, these young reploids were fiercely loyal to their leader, who ordered "Kill him."

The legendary Maverick Hunter was reputed to have retired half-a-million reploids in his ten-year career. That was a lie. To have slain that many foes, the blue reploid would have had to been killing 200 Mavericks a day without rest. Megaman X specialty was combating single opponents. He could fight two with difficulty, and three was almost impossible, and now he stood in the line of fire of The Nine, Elite Hunters. Not with twenty-lives could he hope to subdue them together.

Before the Nine could take one step towards him, X was speeding towards the exit. There was no way to stop General Go from escaping with the wall of the Nine in his way, and you didn't have to be a military genius to understand a tactical retreat.

The blue reploid speed over the lighted path he had followed, turning only to fire at his enemies, frantically he tried the communicator inside his helmet, "Emergency teleport, Maverick Hunter X, code Vee…" but there was no response, he was being jammed. "Damn it!"

Bullet's edged by as he reached the stairwell, he caught a glimpse of his stalkers, only six of the Nine were still following. As he raced up the stairs he readied his canon. As he'd deduced before, inside the stairwell he'd be safe, the narrow passage negated their advantage of numbers. In a few seconds of frantic climbing, the Hunter's right arm shone with an awesome power, and he spread that light upon his enemies. The brilliant white fireball blew his assailant's body down the stair, collapsing on top of the Nine, halting their pursuit.

The blue reploid leaped into the blinding dessert, screaming, "Emergency Teleport, Maverick Hunter X, code V-Theta-23-_dash_-9!"


	9. Chapter 9

The exhausted Maverick Hunter reappeared on the other side of the world within seconds. Already mid-step, the blue reploid nearly fell out of the teleportation pad, but quickly caught himself. With no time to spare, X sought the nearest technicians and put them to work, "Pull up the live-feed on Section T0158634, and track any activities from there," he ordered the first girl, then the other technician was directed, "Find Zero, I need him here on the double."

Befuddled, the two technicians gazed at him blankly for a moment before complying with the orders none the less.

X watched intently while awaiting the results, and glanced over to his side as Zero dashed into the science lab. The blue reploid patted the boy at the controls, "Zero's here, start preparing a Teleport-Net for the sector, and keep it on stand-by." The young reploid did as he was ordered.

Before he and the red shinobi could speak, X was jerked to one side. Alia, the acting-head of the lab, had some words for him, "You're not a General, X. You can't come in my department and start ordering everyone around."

Wrenching his arm from her grasp, the blue reploid addressed his comrade, "Did you get my message?"

"Yeah, I just got back from the CT," Central Terminal, "got the bug out," the red reploid flashed a cluster of computer chips in his right palm.

Once again, the irate lab-captain pulled the blue reploid aside, "I do you a favor, and this is how you repay me?" she demanded an answer.

"Do everything that man says," a gruff old voice commanded. Walking-stick in hand, he old doctor limped in, with Pallet tagging along close behind. Doctor Cain approached the acting head of the science center. The good doctor glanced up at the female reploid, they stood eye-to-chin, and with stern determination he answered her, "I'll be taking control of his department for the time being. And, right now, we need to follow X's intuition."

The young scientist swallowed her pride and complied. Alia relieved the nearby technician, taking the girls place on the monitors.

"Scan Sector T34, look for the signatures of The Nine," dictated X.

"The Nine?" Alia wondered to herself. Removing the hole in the satellite system proved its worth, in a few moments the blonde reploid produced results. "I've got them, one's bleeding radiation all over the sky. I'm tracking them."

"That's the one I shot," the blue reploid commented, then continued to explain his encounter with the General to Zero and Doctor Cain.

"Got it," Alia added, "they're holed up in a warehouse in Sector J03."

The famous hunter quickly got to work, "Zero, take the Shinobi and apprehend the Nine."



"Already on it," the red reploid replied, with his finger to his helmet he reached out to the rest of his squad, "All HQ Shinobi, stand-by for Emergency Teleport in twenty seconds." In short order, the red reploid disappeared with only his signature thumbs-up salute.

"Alia, Pallet, you're with me," he tapped the other young man at work in the second computer, "When I'm gone, dispatch the Net. I don't want anyone coming in."

"You're going in all by yourself?" Alia gasped in disbelief.

Doctor Cain shared the young reploid's concern; X might have been famous for his maverick slaying exploits, but the Special Forces Unit was tailor made for this situation. "Negative, young man. Contact Unit 9 and get them here ASAP."

The engineer got on task, while the blue reploid objected.

"The longer we wait, the bigger window we leave open for escape. If Go hasn't ditched already," X was not about to sugar-coat the situation to spare the ears of the few engineers listening in, "I need the Net to make sure nothing comes in or out of that area."

"And how do you suppose to find that needle in a teleporting-maze hay-stack?" the old doctor wondered.

Famous X had already prepared, "With Alia and Pallet we can hack the teleport maze and lead me right to the General."

The old man gazed at the blue reploid for a moment, impressed with his resolve. A decade earlier, Cain had been skeptical of X's potential to be a Maverick Hunter, he worried he'd let out the golden goose onto the battlefield. His creator had hoped X could have forged his own path, away from violence. In a short time, compared to the span of his own life, Doctor Cain had seen the world transformed, and the first reploid right along with it.

"Alright," the old doctor conceded, "X, Alia and Pallet will go first, with the 9th Unit as backup." He turned to the engineer at the control panel, "Prepare the Net, and await a response from the 9th Unit."

"The 9th Unit will be ready in twelve minutes, sir!" the engineer exclaimed.

The female scientist dug out from beneath the control panels, two Boards, simple computers composed of a small screen and a full-size keyboard, the weapon of choice for Hacker Units. She handed one off to the scared secretary and secondly passed her a hand-held blaster adding, "Protect yourself."

The trio stood at the teleportation pads, with the two hackers with their boards in slings over their shoulders. Their dismissal interrupted by one unexpected visitor. From the teleporter, X glared down at the tall, bald head of the Science Unit.

Colonel Magenta met the Maverick Hunter's gaze with his own apathetic leer, the picked up what he had come to deliver. "Take this Force Metal Knife for the fight ahead," it was an order not a request.



The blue reploid knew it wasn't a Force Metal Knife, "I'm not using that," he refused.

"Too bad the General is not an opponent you can talk to death," Magenta quipped, "He knows all your strategies and expects you're coming. It's wise to have an ace up your sleeve."

Reluctantly, the blue reploid grabbed the weapon, "Funny how you know everything, even when I never briefed you."

The head scientist ignored him, "The Knife works best on the heart and brain. Strike there to eliminate your target."

The reploid with the strong sense of justice wouldn't spend another word debating the colonel's questionable practices, he simply signaled the young reploid at the controls and vanished.

- - - - - - - -

Once again, X returned to the sea of endless dunes. The trio had reappeared on the other side of the world, in the same spot X had escaped from minutes earlier. In front of them sat the boulder which hid the entrance. "Watch your step," he warned the two girls, preparing his buster as they steadily descended the staircase.

They safely passed the stairs and into the lighted pathway. The blue reploid took a long look down the lighted corridor before the trio started running. _Why is there no one here?_ He wondered, and his question was answered as quickly as he turned into the warehouse where he had first encountered the Nine. The dozens of crates which had littered the room had been evacuated.

"They're all gone," he said to no one.

The two technicians trailed along behind him, they entered the empty den and spotted the short-ranged teleporter at the end of the room. Alia and Pallet connected their Boards into either side of the blue-steel device shaped like a squat, metal mushroom and slumped down beside it with their backs against the wall. The two set to work quickly, already knowing what needed to be done; Alia focus on removing any barriers impeding their progress, while the second technician focused on tracing General Go's signature through the warp maze.

X stared pensively at his left gauntlet, the Soul-Eraser Knife hidden inside. He would not use it, he determined, not in the way Magenta had instructed. The knife would only work on a reploid's heart or brain; it was how it destroyed its synapses. There could be no errors, if the General could wrestle the knife away from him, he would not be afraid to use it.

It was the calm before the storm, as it always did, time seemed to slowdown. His weaponized right hand felt heavy, the blue reploid waved his buster in the air from one side to another, it felt sluggish. Perhaps he'd spent too much time behind that desk, he wondered.

The two technicians continued their show of computer wizardry like the last two performers in that forsaken cave. Alia spoke up while not missing a beat on her Board, "Almost done," she informed him.



"After I'm gone, I want you to freeze all the teleporters for as long as you can," X instructed.

"Are you serious?" Pallet squeaked from behind her board.

"If we freeze all the teleporters, I'll have every Hacker in there, trying to break down the walls. And thanks to the Net, the 9th Unit will take another 7 minutes to get here. We won't have any back up." The Net is a special force-field that prevents people from teleporting directly in or out of an area. The 9th Unit would have to arrive outside the net, then speed towards the bunker by land. Alia had become a scientist to avoid this kind of situations, while the blonde secretary did her best to muffle her whimpering.

It was no strange sensation, it was always his fate to continue alone, but strengthened through many battles and many losses, the blue hunter knew how to forge ahead. "If Mavericks start pouring out, start running East, that's where the 9th Unit will be coming from," there was a small Hunter outpost east of there, Colonel Sakura would beam in from there, X knew. "Don't wait for me," he added.

"Ninety-percent done," Pallet rang up.

"We might get you nine minutes alone, I doubt, ten," the scientist informed him.

"Right," he began to charge his weapon, staring intently at the teleporter. Things melted away as Pallet completed the countdown, "98… 99… 100" The mushroom pod opened its jaws, the blue robot dashed bravely into the cascade of yellow and white light.

- - -- - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Maverick's den was wide and tall, another holding station where stolen weapons were dissipated. Like the other, this room had been purged of all its content, siphoned off to rein terror elsewhere. Dust still hung in the air from the haste that it was emptied, and the lanterns above swayed like waves in an ocean. Two mavericks bordered General Go, the sound of the teleporter instantly got their attention. The fallen General ordered them to charge the instant he spotted the green in X's eyes. In a flash, the blue reploid assessed the situation.

One attacker was a large, yellow construction mechaloid; not built for battle, it had no formal armor to speak of, a single charged shot collapsed it's abdomen into its own core, obliterating it. Before he could pull back his fist, the second maverick was already on him. How unfortunate, X thought. He recognized the standard issue blue armor that was given out to new Hunters. More unfortunate that this young one was already mad, all standard issue armors are equipped with a arm canon, but this one was trying to attack X head on.

The brash maverick got in one cheap shot to the Hunter's cheek, it stung him, but did little to stop him. The Maverick Hunter responded with a smashing right hook to the jaw of the young Maverick, his arm still in canon form. His enemy spun to the floor, and the blue reploid poured bullets into the back of his opponent. With each blast, the unfortunate maverick squealed with pain, until his body was obliterated.



This had all taken nearly half-a-minute.

Across the room, the former leader of the Lightning Unit was still unprepared; he had spent the last half-minute shouting into his communicator. A few more seconds and he'd realize there was no back-up coming. _This time_, X thought, _we're going to fight on my terms_. Ceasing the opportunity, X launched a volley of bullets at his enemy. Like flies, General Go swatted away the plasma bullets with his glowing-white beam saber. Dark-gray laser-shields emerged from both his gauntlets as the forearms of his coat then burned away.

General Go faced him like a fencer, his blade and right shoulder towards the enemy. A mistake even veterans can make is to try and hold back their skills or weapons to bring them out in a surprise attack. It's foolish because if you wait until the last possible moment to bring out your attack, by then it might be too late. By freely taking that stance and putting his skills on the table up front, Go creates fear – the fear of whatever he could possibly do from that position.

Experience will teach a Hunter that knowing an enemy's skill can force their hand. Certain fighting styles can cut out sets of strategies from their opponent's skill set. The posture told many things. The beam saber had a deadly point and edges, as well as having a considerable range. By shifting his body to the side, he'd reduced the area which his opponent might hit. He had already shown proficient in blocking attacks from up front, the shields were to protect from attacks coming from his side.

X sprayed another wave of bullets, and General Go dispatched them just as easily as before. One, two, three, four – he fired a second round, his enemy parrying and taking a moment to attack with a forward stab. Every four shots his X-Buster would take one second to cool and prepare a new batch, at that instant, Go would cease the opportunity and lunge forward. Once again, the blue reploid emptied his buster into his enemy, you might call it futility, but he had to keep General Go preoccupied with something to impede his formulating a plan.

Another stab came dangerously close, narrowly X hopped back at the right instant. The leader of the Lightning Unit showed unwavering resolve, his steam of swordplay was unstoppable. One solid strike at his enemy would be enough, a second, third and fourth strike would follow as the damage compiled. By applying pressure to his opponent, his enemy would try a move in desperation; at that time is when to strike at the opponent's weak point. One jarring blow can cause his foes to crumble.

_There is little time to waste,_ X reminded himself. Minutes slipped away and at the end of time, Mavericks would be breaking the walls down to get to him. Regular bullets were useless, only a fully charged shot would be enough. But, there was the problem with the time it took to prepare his Buster, in addition to the lagging cooling period.

Distance was almost a hindrance, the longer the bullet's traveled, the bigger space of time Go had to block them. This negated the advantage of being outside the sword's range. But inside the attack area of the general's white saber was dangerous. Maverick Hunter X looked up for a moment, while expertly dodging another merciless barrage, and pinned his hopes on one new gamble.



Ceasing the moment while General Go pulled back his sword from the last advance, X prepared his arm canon for a charged shot. The instant the leader of the Lightning Unit realized this, he reapplied the pressure on his opponent, knowing first blood would be drawn in the next seconds.

When the black Maverick made spent one large slash his way, the Hunter banked on jumping. He leap backwards on to a wall, caught his opponent by surprise by kicking off and towards the ceiling. Grabbing on to a light fixture, it snapped off the roof, breaking his momentum.

The lamp was falling, forcing Go to protect himself with his left shield. X landed safely, as the general batted away the junk above his head, and released power crackling out of his right arm. Go would be forced to block with both his shields, netting X the opportunity to run up close.

The fireball was upon him, General Go made one strong slash. The bubble burst and knocked the saber from his hand, while simultaneously the backlash knocked X off his feet.

Forgoing his blade, the Maverick leapt on to the Hunter, his knee pounded into the first reploid's blue armored chest. They wrestled on the floor, Go pinned down X's buster arm, while X's left arm futilely throttled the enemy by the neck. For the final blow, Go reached his arm back struggling for the saber just out of his range.

When Go looked away, there was his opening. He gave Go one last push with his left arm, the evil general continued to grab at the saber. The knife ejected from his gauntlet, and with all the strength the Maverick Hunter could muster, into the weak-spot in Go's knee.

"YAAH!" Go cried out in pain. The blade has snapped off, its razor's edge slithered through the insides of his legs, slicing cyber-muscle in its wake. The pain was unimaginable. His screams of shock and disbelief were silenced quickly when a blue hammer collided with his eye.

X pushed himself on to his feet; the Maverick continued to agonize on the floor. "It's over, General," he added. It pained him to retire a fellow Hunter, he could find solace that by slaying this one he had saved countless human and reploid lives. It was all over, but the killing, there was no way the General could continue fighting with a damaged leg. For anyone else the gamble might have been a suicide, but these were the skills he had honed.

The fallen general continued to spasm on the floor, twitching appallingly. Something was wrong, by now any Maverick would have turned and cursed the blue reploid. He inched closer, keeping his buster ready for surprises. Go face twisted in anguish, one last sickening dry heave looked like he broke his own back in the effort, before an exhausted groan escaped his lips, "uuuuhg."

The body grew limp on the floor, and the famous hunter could hardly wrap his mind around it. _That wasn't supposed the happen_, he screamed inside. _That's not how it's supposed to work!_

Before he could vent out his frustrations on nobody, the lock on the teleporter gave way, his time was up. A five man band of Reploid poured into the room, uniformly clad in light black and grey armor. Their leader, riffle in hand, address him, "Is everything, okay, Colonel?"

He swallowed his grief, "Just a few scuffs," he answered.

"Good, now clear out," ordered the leader, "this is our part."

"Be careful," instinctively he warned them.

"It's what we do."

_It's what we do. It's all we ever do_. The blue reploid retired into the teleporter, and into the arms of awaiting friends. They returned to base to put this entire ordeal behind them. As a young man, he went into that room and thought that it would all go away with one last fight. A mature man, now, he realized when all the dust was settled, there was still the same problems and so very little good things that doesn't come around often enough. The fate of the world could never be distilled down to a ten minute brawl in one room.

_You can't change the world. Not like this. Not this way._

- - - - - - -

They return to the Throne of Justice in the late evening. Congratulations were passed around to the returning heroes, but it was not time to celebrate yet, as they continued to await the return of the 9th Unit. Exhausted, the blue reploid returned to his quarters for the remainder of the night, a tortured sleep would haunt him throughout the darkness until the mission's final conclusion the next morning.


	10. Chapter 10

- - - - - - -

A new day dawned, the cold rain had gone away and Hunter HQ returned to normal. The sun shined and the wind whistled, even the birds returned alive, chittering again like they had died with the winter only to be resurrected. Soldier marched like there had been no yesterday. It was the same flawed world.

They gathered at the top of the Tower, deep in the den of the Hunter Saint, to finally put the ugly business behind them. The six players in the last twelve hour waited for the leader of the Maverick Hunters.

Signas entered the room and the six gave their attention as he made his way to the head of the meeting. "First, I'd like to thank the heroes for their efforts, truly above and beyond the call of duty," the head reploid saluted them and the other reploid followed. X and Zero returned their commander's sign of respect. Afterwards they took their seats and the meeting formally began.

"Thanks to the selfless efforts of X, Zero, and Dr. Cain a great disaster has been averted," Signas summarized the Dr. Cain's report for the half of the room which was not privy to all the information, "Through a private investigation, involving Colonels X and Zero, they exposed General Go as a traitor."

The female scientist remained in silent awe as the news continued, careful not to let the blue reploid catch her shock.

"The two hunters defused General Go's plan, a plan described here in Colonel Sakura's report," he raised a slate as the example.

The colonel took her time to intervene, "We caught a couple Mavericks, and they talked," she boasted, "they always talk."

"Yes," Signas motioned, "General Go's association with the Deliberation Army was to coordinate an attack on Repliforce. The plan was to assassinate the General of Repliforce, and then Go would use his pull to be named the new General by the Cain Foundation, under my recommendation."

"But, how did he do it?!" the shinobi demanded to know, "Why didn't anybody notice?!"

Signas had prepared the answer, "That's best answered by Colonel Magenta, at an undisclosed location." The Hunter Saint was not about to expose all of the secrets of the Hunters. The head of the Maverick Hunters contacted the leader of the Science Unit, who appeared in a screen behind them. "Colonel, tell them what you've found."

"Now that the General is dead, his files have been declassified," a second screen displayed the uncensored truth about the fallen Hunter, "Go was a special type of reploid. What made the General unique, and suited for his career, was his abnormally large brain. Unlike other reploid, Go's processing capability was expanded by incorporating his brain functions into his other parts. In short, his entire body was his brain."



Megaman X used all his might to prevent from shaking with rage. The Maverick Hunters had never been a perfect organization, but Magenta represented every horrible thing the organization kept hidden. The fact that the head of the Science Unit worked so closely, and under the approval of, Signas, dirtied his hands as well. Who's to say what other accidents were engineered by Magenta's machinations.

"It seems, however, the increase in brain function caused a new ability which was not engineered to manifest," the scientist continued, "Go's brain could exert a thought altering wave, which, I suspect, he used to dull perception and erase short term memory."

"Why didn't he use that on us?" Zero asked.

Sitting besides the shinobi, the bearded old man guessed the answer, "Because you two use a special brain type. The General's psionic attacks may only work on Cain-Class reploids. It was your Light-Class brains that saved you." Dr. Cain reflected for a moment, "It really was a good call to bring the both of you in on the investigation."

"With his clearance, and the mind wave to cover his tracks, he was able to sabotage the Satellite System undetected."

The red reploid sat up, remembering what he wished to know, "What about the Nine? What's gonna happen to them?" The 0 Unit had stormed the bunker where the Nine had escaped to. A difficult battle ensued, but it came to a halt after only a few minutes.

"The Nine will make a full recovery," Magenta responded, "They claim they were controlled by the General. And scans show nothing of the Virus in them. The General's shell tested positive, though."

"What about Repliforce?" the red reploid added.

"The Repliforce has been warned about the attack," the Hunter Saint prepared to dismiss the meeting. "Without the element of surprise, or General Go as the leader, the Maverick rebellion has been stopped. A new Command Sergeant Major has been promoted in the Repliforce, while a new Officer Grade has been commissioned for Colonel. Finally plugging the power vacuum they hoped to take advantage of.

"To ensure peace domestically, and guard the reputation of this sector, the results of this investigation must be covered up."Most of the audience was surprised, except for the shinobi and the head of the 9th Unit, who could predict the leader's movements. "News that a Maverick was among the highest ranking officers can cause anarchy.

"The engineers who witnessed last night's mission have been sworn to secrecy, and they'll be transferring to other bases of their choosing. Officially, General Go will be retired with honors, having fallen in a secret plan to weed out the Mavericks in sector T34. And nothing discussed here will leave this room."

- - - - - - - -



The same four walls surrounded the Maverick Hunter. His box at the top of the Tower never felt so small. Sleep had been restless, and Signas' orders didn't sit well with him. His mind was elsewhere, torn between the dirty floors of that military bunker half a world away and the muddy puddle where it had all began. So consumed, he hadn't noticed his oldest friend come in.

The old man slowly took his seat. The red reploid might have been X's closest friend, but Dr. Cain was there on the day he was born. There could not have been a more perfect man to uncover him. The good doctor had taken him in to his home, and always treated him as an equal. The old man cleared him throat, "You've grown a lot, X, have I ever told you that?"

_Only all the time. _

He had the blue reploid's attention, "But, you've never outgrown your habits. Every time something goes wrong, you sulk like it was your own fault." The old man wasn't criticizing him, it was only what he had observed the Hunter to do.

"Dr. Cain," X admitted, "Rosa was soul erased. And, I soul erased General Go."

The doctor knew this. The old man gazed up at the troubled young man before him and asked simply, "Did you enjoy it?"

"No, I was…"

"There's no doubt in my mind that Go deserved it. The General had an ambition on a global scale, and desperate measures had to be taken. No one will blame you for what had to be done."

But the doctor's words didn't help, "That does not make me feel any better."

"I doubt it would. You'll probably be torturing yourself over the fact for a few weeks. It's your nature." There was no one who could know X any better than the old man. "I am relieved you didn't bring up the Soul Eraser at this morning's meeting. You've learned to pick your battles."

Personally, the subject made him sick. Ashamed that he had kept him mouth shut about the Soul Eraser Weapons. It wouldn't have mattered, since Signas had buried the investigation. "The other Hunters have a right to know what is going under their feet."

"They do," the old man started getting up, his cane trembled as he pushed upward, "I could bring it up at the next meeting of the Foundation, but I doubt it will do any good." The blue reploid came around to help his elder up, "The bottom line is the Foundation doesn't care how you control the Mavericks, only that you control them. A long public debate wouldn't accomplish anything except exposing the secret of the weapons. It's for the best that the secret to remain hidden. The genie must be kept in his bottle for as long as it can."

"There's still a missing batch of weapons out there." The 9th Unit had recovered some weapons when they raided the Maverick hide out, but it was only a fraction of the arms which were missing.



"General Go was always the type to squirrel away his resources for a future plan. If the General stored the weapons the whereabouts might have died with him." The old man steadied himself, and remembered what he had come for, "X, when is your next leave?"

"Not for another two days, sir."

"Nonsense," the doctor was cheerful again, "I'll make a call, and you can come home with me today." The blue reploid tried to object, but Dr. Cain wouldn't hear of it, "You deserve it, after what you've been through."

The blue reploid prepared for departure, filling in Pallet with his plan, and leaving another member of the 17th Unit in charge. But before they could leave, the doctor had one last errand to finish. "Before we leave, I'll need to recover Rosa's body as evidence."

He called it her body, when the average human would call it a "shell." The good doctor called everyone he met, "young man," or "young lady," be they human or reploid, since there was hardly anyone older than he. But, the blue reploid didn't need an explanation why he needed the body.

Reploids are born indentured servants. Reploids are built by humans to perform a specific job, and for their investment in bringing them to life, Reploids are expected to work for their creators for a fixed period of time. However, there is almost no control over what kind of personality the Reploid may have, so there are a few cases of Reploids drafted into the wrong life style.

The problem is never more apparent than inside the Maverick Hunters. Hunter Labs creates thousands of Hunter-Class reploids to fill out the ranks of the Legions. But, there are always a lump of rookies who are unsuitable for battle. Regardless, the unwilling soldiers are given arms and told to wish to last the three years in order to withdraw from the Hunters.

Rosa was a different case. "She was wasted where I found her. Her family lent her to me, but I'll need her body to prove I didn't let her runaway, or set her free."

Dr. Cain was even nice enough to call them her family. Grudgingly, the blue reploid set down to do finish his last chore.

- - - - - - - -

It had only been half-a-day since Rosa had been retired, so the girl's chassis was still in the science lab. The body had been wheeled away to the infirmary section to not take up space. Most reploids don't leave bodies, so it really was a rare case that the young woman had left behind and unspoiled shell. A white sheet draped over her to cover her bare chest where the nurses had split open her blouse when she was brought in.

The famous hunter's mind ached as he stared at her laying there. The bullet had erased her mind, so Rosa slipped away without a care for the world, so she lay there serenely like she was sleeping.



The blue reploid was at her bedside when Zero stepped in. He strode to the foot of the bed where his friend was lost in thought. Dead bodies didn't stun the veteran hunter, having been a corpse himself more times than he cared to remember. The dead envy the living, he had learned.

The blue reploid continued to ignore him. Zero crossed his arms and waited impatiently for X to acknowledge him. After a minute, the shinobi broke his silence, "You're not gonna to quit on us, again? Are you, X?" he winked playfully at his friend.

A smile transformed the Hunter's face, "No, I will just be leaving early."

Zero didn't know what he was talking about, but played along, "You don't say."

The blue reploid went back to watching Rosa on the stretcher, when he finally spoke his mind, "Zero, have you ever seen things when you die?"

His friend indulged him, "You mean, like, my life flashing before my eyes?"

"Yeah."

The blue reploid was in one of his moods, Zero knew them too well. "I did, once."

X inhaled a deep breath, then exhaled as he turned his view upward to the ceiling as he began to reminisce. "During the last days of the war, you and I demolished several ships; our last big hit was the run on Cricket's flying fortress,"

"The Hand of Cruelty," Zero spoke up.

"Yep." X continued, "And, in the end, the whole place fell apart around us. The blast had sent us flying. I could feel the steady decline as the wind cut past us. I looked over to you and you were grinning like a mad man."

"I was smiling, 'cause I got that Cricket good," the red reploid couldn't help but grim when he thought of it.

"All I could hear was the wind as it blew past my ears. The sky was a blur, but I could still taste the black smoke spewing from the sinking fortress. I shut my eyes, knowing that when I'd land, I would be dead. So, I waited for my life to flash before my eyes, or the final sound of my skull shattering, but, instead, what I heard was a splash.

"I had fallen in an ocean, and continued to sink towards the bottom. I let out my last gasp of air, acknowledging the water to fill my lungs and get it over with. As the last bubbles left my lips, the ocean water flooded in but refused to subdue me.

"I let my eyes open slowly, and I saw something I could hardly believe. There were reploids swimming in the ocean. Some in pairs. Some in dozens. Others in schools of thousands, living freely in the ocean. They were armor-less, and their synthetic skin had a transparent-luminous, quality.



"A small school started to swim around me. Some were men. Some were women. And I notice that I was naked, too.

"I covered my shame, and continued to sink. The ocean-dwellers swam closer, probing me with their eyes. I landed on the ocean floor safely on my feet; the luminous reploids gave me one last look before they swam away. Followed by the strangest feeling I have ever felt.

"As they swam away, the ocean seemed to swim away with them. I felt the cold air hit my feet, climb up my legs, then onto my chest, after the ocean cleared my head, I fell on my side, coughing up the water inside my lungs.

"I woke up in a medical station, and they were replacing my legs."

The red reploid remembered the attack on the Hand of Cruelty. He had landed on his side, shattering his shoulder and screaming to high heaven when he did. Sheepishly, he gazed at his friend from the corners of his eyes, Zero added, "You were unconscious? What a marshmallow."

Zero always knew how to pull X out of his melancholy. The blue reploid chuckled, and went back to what he had set out to do. He had spent enough time in the infirmary; Dr. Cain would already be waiting for him at the teleport station. He wheeled the bed behind him, sparing one last good-bye for his friend.

"Get out of here! Go on your vacation! I'll still be here fighting the fight," the red reploid answered.

- - - - - - - - - -

A short while later, X reported to the transportation station. The body was transported first, and the doctor left second. "Take care of yourself," he told Alia. After the last couple of days, on top of everything they had weathered, the young woman couldn't stand to look him in the eye. So, she bit her lip and turned away. _The last few days changed everything_, he reflected as he awaited transport.

- - - - - - - -

His feet were heavy and cemented to the ground, held by magnets he deduced. The Hunter was nowhere he recognized, an oval shaped room of cement and steel, the walls barren with no way to tell where he'd been whisked off to. The lights were killed, and he recognized the sound of someone teleporting in. Three of them. Before the confused reploid could form his weapon, a stranger twisted his arm behind him.

"Where am I?!" he screamed, hoping one of them was crazy enough to answer. Whoever had him by his arm was ludicrously strong, strong enough for the blue reploid to feel where the monster's hand dug deep into his armor.

The Maverick Hunter tried his night-vision, but the feedback showed nothing but static. With his left arm he felt along blindly in the dark as his normal eyes adjusted, only to be blinded again by a beam of white light. A second one punched him, and the blue reploid fell back on to the wall of a reploid still clamped on his buster arm.



"What do you want?!" he asked the dark. This would be the ideal position to kill him, but they were toying with him, which told X his attackers had ulterior motives. When his eyes began to readjust, another beam blinded him again.

A permanent spot-light shone in his face, tracking his movements, until the dark spoke up. "We are the invisible sword of the ghost council. We are everywhere. The remnants of the 19th Unit will be dealt with."

The juggernaut behind him continued to restrain X as he continued to twitch underneath the eye-sheering light. "Did you bring me here for a warning, or are you going to kill me?"

If he provoked them, they might do something stupid, instead the light died down, and his vision began a slow self-repair. The blurred figure of a man in front of him was doing the talking.

"You will stay out of the way of our affairs. Not because we can kill you. Because we can kill you, your friends, and anyone else who ever knew you."

The man behind X jerked the reploid's shoulder to give the threat more emphasis.

The phantom clasped the blue reploid's remaining hand; he was not as strong as the other mechaoid, but managed to pull the Hunter's arm away despite resistance. "You're not going to do anything. You won't tell anyone. Not the old man. Not the red guy. Not the girls or anyone at the base." X's vision started forming a picture, enough to develop a burry shadow of reploid nearly pressed against his face. "Or else we're going to peel them away from you. Slowly. Painfully. Violently."

The monster relaxed the twist on the Hunter's arm, as the supposed leader's speech reached its crescendo, "And Soul Erasure is the least we can do."

The ghosts devised one last warning for the famous hunter. "Do it, Tall Sheer."

The monster clamped his second hand on the blue reploids' buster arm. The lead phantom released the other, only to watch as X vainly tried to pry open the fingers of his partner. Sheer agony consumed the Hunter's thoughts as the beast crushed his bones through his armor. Cyber-muscle stretched painfully until they snapped like rubber bands, the steel fell of his arm like tin-foil, until a sickening "CRACK" of his steel bones.

The juggernaut flung the reploid's lifeless limb, while X agonized blindly on the ground.

- - - - - - - -

X emerged on the other side, still screaming, as the jagged stump leaked oil on the floor. Quickly, the doctor's men were upon him, but he remained crouched, nursing his wound.

The doctor voiced his concern, "Son, are you okay? We thought we'd lost you for a minute." Indeed, the engineers had spent the last few minutes frantically trying to fix what seemed like a communications 

malfunction. "Thank goodness, it's only your arm. We can patch that up, and get you a new one in a few days."

Silently, the blue reploid continued to nurse his wound, and contemplate what course of action to take.

The year is 21XX, and the world is divided into armies, countries and special interests. The time of the powerful individual is over, and they must find a new way to live in the modern era. For Megaman X, his time with the Maverick Hunters is drawing to a close, and the next chapter in his life is about to begin. New problems pave the path the Earth is crossing, for human and reploid alike, but we will remember those who have the will to stand and lead.

Quint the Historian speaking. Thanks to everyone for reading, and if you liked it, tell your friends a leave a review.

I will now make a special offer to anyone reading here at . You'll get to decide what my next fanfic is going to be. If I can get 100 Reviews for this story (hopefully from 30 or more different people, not the same guy 99 times) before January 2009, then I'll write a sequel: _Maverick Hunter X: The Untold Chapters_.

If not, then I'll go ahead and write _Megaman Axl: The Lost History. _So the ball's in your court.

Thanks, again, to everyone who's been reading, and feel free to check out my other work, Megaman Zero: The Secret History, if you haven't already.

I really hope you enjoy reading it, more than I enjoyed writing it.


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